Yes, and which I was not permitted to let them
enjoy!
Ah! which did the Almighty listen to? To the praise, or to the
mourning, lamentation, and woe? You have often wondered, my
children, that I absented myself from the Te Deums of victory while
we had them. Now you know the reason.
And then I knew that all this display was only an excuse under which
the Queen hid her real design of crushing all opposition to her will.
She wanted to commit an injustice, and silence all appeals against
it, so that the poor might be more and more ground down! How strange
in the woman whom I had seen bearing patiently, nay, joyfully, with
the murmurs of the faggot-seller in the hospital! Truly she knew not
what she did!
As she left the Cathedral, and passed M. de Comminges, a lieutenant
of her Guards, she said: 'Go, and Heaven be with you.'
I was soon at home safely with my boys, to carry an account of our
doings to my dear little M. d'Aubepine, who, unable to bear the
fatigue and the crush of Notre Dame, had taken her little children to
a Mass of thanksgiving celebrated by our good Abbe at the nearest
Church.
We waited long and long for the others to come. I was not uneasy for
my mother, who was with the Queen; but the servants brought reports
that the canaille had risen, and that the streets were in wild
confusion. We could see nothing, and only heard wild shouts from
time to time. What could have become of Eustace and Annora? My
mother would have been afraid that with their wild English notions
they had rushed into something most unsuitable to a French
demoiselle, and I was afraid for Eustace, if they were involved in
any crowd or confusion, for his strength was far from being equal to
his spirit.
Pages:
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181