“As soon as it was dark,” he said, “I came to the palace.
I still had the key and found the door unguarded so I came to you. “
“They know you helped us to escape. This is madness.” It was—a divine sort of madness; and I could not help but rejoice that he had come.
Axel stayed with me all that night and the next day. On the evening of that day I asked Louis to come to my apartment as an old friend wished to see him.
When Louis arrived Axel eagerly told him of plans he had made for another escape.
“We should learn by the mistakes of the last,” he said.
“This time we should succeed.”
Louis shook his head.
“It is impossible ” Perhaps we should try,” I suggested.
But I saw the stubborn look in my husband’s face.
“We can speak frankly,” he said.
“I am accused of weakness and irresolution, but as no one else has ever been in my position they cannot say how they would have acted in my place. I missed the right moment to leave, which was earlier than we did. That was the moment to act. Since then I have never found another. I have been deserted by everyone.”
“Not by the Comte de Fersen,” I reminded him.
He smiled sadly.
“That’s true. And I shall never forget what you have done for us. My friend, the National Guard is stationed round the chateau. It would be a hopeless endeavour, and just as the position was worsened by our first attempt, so would it be by yet another.”
Axel was still convinced that we could succeed; and the King at last explained his true reason for refusing the aid which was offered. He had given his word not to attempt to leave again.
I was exasperated, but as Axel said to me: “The King is an honest man.”
Honest, yes. But of what use was honesty when dealing with our enemies?
Still Axel was certain that he could persuade King Gustavus of Sweden to come to our aid. He would return at once to his native country and work for us there.
We parted and he left. I was desolate to say farewell, yet his visit had stimulated me to such an extent that I felt hope returning. Axel would never cease to work for us. When I thought of that, I could believe that one day all would be well.
How ill luck pursued us. Axel had not been long in Sweden, where he arrived without mishap, when news of the death of King Gustavus came to us.
He was thinking of us at the end, because the last words he spoke were: “My death will make the Jacobins in Paris rejoice.”
How right he was. And another avenue was closed to us.
We could only hope for help from Austria and Prussia now.
Madame Campan came back to me. I was very pleased to see her because I had always been fond of her and I liked her sound good sense. I remembered now how discreetly she had disapproved of the magnificent be rime which Axel had had made with such pride.
She was startled when she saw me. I saw her glance at my hair.
It has turned white, Madame Campan,” I said sadly.
It is still beautiful, Madame,” she answered. I showed her a ring I had had mounted with a lock of hair. I intended to send it to the Princesse de Lamballe, whom I had commanded to go to London. She had left reluctantly and I wanted her to know how it pleased me to think of her in safety. I had the words ” Bleached by sorrow inscribed on the ring. It would be a warning to her not to return, for she had written to me telling me that she could not bear to stay away from me and that she believed that if I were in peril so should she be.
”She was always a little stupid,” I said to Madame Campan, ‘but the kindest and most affectionate of souls. I rejoice that she is not here. “
My brother Leopold had died and his son Francis was now Emperor. He was twenty-four and I had never really known him; he showed little sympathy for my plight. He did not encourage those emigres who in his country were agitating against the revolutionaries of France; nor did he banish them.
The situation between France and Austria had become tense, and eventually Louis was prevailed upon to declare war. It seemed like a nightmare to me. I remembered how my mother had worked to foster the alliance between France and Austria—and now here they were at war.
I was not dismayed. I could not become any more unpopular than I already was. And if my countrymen beat the French, their first task would be to restore the Monarchy.
I was exultant. I wrote to Axeclass="underline"
“God grant that vengeance will at length be taken for the provocations we have received from this country, Never have I been more proud than at this moment to have been born a German.”
I was foolish perhaps. In truth I had long forgotten that I was a German. I could scarcely speak the language. My husband was French; my children were French; and for years I had called this my country.
It was the French themselves who had refused to receive me. All I wanted was to go back to the old days; to be given another chance. I had teamed bitter lessons and I now had the sense to apply them. I wanted to be left in peace to bring up my son to be a good King of France; That was all I asked.
The Princesse de Lamballe returned to Paris. While I embraced her I chided her.
You were always a little fool,” I told her.
“Yes, I know,” she answered; and she laughed, and flung her arms about me and demanded to know how I thought she could be away far from me when she had to listen to all the terrible tales of what was happening in Paris. June had come again. It was a year since we had attempted co escape.
The summer weeks were the weeks of danger; then people congregated in the streets, in the Palais Royale; then it was easier to spread sedition.
Every effort seemed to be made to humiliate the King; he was asked to sanction two decrees ordaining the deportation of priests and a formation of a camp of twenty thousand men outside Paris. Louis would have given way but I urged him to apply the veto.
This enraged the revolutionaries and I was to regret it afterwards, but I could not help deploring my husband’s weakness.
The people had a new name for me: Madame Veto. They reminded themselves that I was the Austrian Woman and that they were at war with Austria. The members of the National Assembly now believed that they would never conquer their enemies abroad until they had first dealt with those at home. I was the enemy not the King.
Vergniaud, one of the leaders, was thundering warnings to the Assembly.
“From where I speak,” he declared, “I can see the dwelling place in which false counsellors lead astray and deceive the King who has given us the Constitution…. I see the windows of the palace where they are hatching counter revolutions and where they are contriving ways of sending us back to slavery. Let those who dwell in the afore mentioned palace realise that our Constitution guarantees inviolability to the King alone. Let them know that our laws will run there without distinction among the guilty, and that there is not any head proved to be criminal which can hope to escaping passing beneath the axe.”
This was a direct attack on me. I was accustomed to them from the rabble; it was different when they came from the leaders of the revolution.
It was the 20th of June, the anniversary of our flight, when the mob gathered about the Tuileries. They were shouting: “Down with the veto.
The nation for ever. “
From the window I saw them their filthy red caps on their heads, their knives and cudgels in their hands. These were the sons-culottes . the bloodthirsty mob, and they were already in the Palace. My first thought was for the children. I ran upstairs, where they were with Madame de Tourzel and the Princesse de Lamballe.