One of his wishes was, to a certain degree, gratified at length. He got
a little more hunting when June came. To the surprise of the court, and
many besides, the royal family were quietly permitted to go to their
country-house at Saint Cloud, a few miles from Paris, when the weather
became too warm for a comfortable residence at the Tuileries. The
National Guard followed them; but the king rode out daily, attended only
by an officer of General Lafayette's staff. The queen was guarded by
another of these officers, and the Dauphin by a third.
It seems rather strange that so much liberty should have been allowed,
when so lately every precaution was taken to prevent the flight of the
family. During the past winter and spring, and the next season, the
leaders of the revolution kept a constant watch upon the palace, and
knew all that went on there. They knew what persons were admitted at
back doors to consult with the queen. They also knew, after the family
returned from Saint Cloud, how many horses were in the royal stables,
and how many of them stood constantly saddled and bridled. They knew
how the royal carriages were kept stuffed with luggage, ready to start
at a moment's warning,--the royal arms being nearly rubbed out from the
panels. They declared also that they knew that the king's old aunts
meant to go away, carrying off, not only plenty of treasure, but little
Louis; and that a boy, very like Louis, had been in training for some
time, to represent him, when the true Dauphin should have been carried
to his uncle, over the frontiers. All this was published in the
newspapers, so that, if the old princesses had any such plan prepared,
they were obliged to give it up. Thus were the family guarded in Paris,
before and after, and yet, in June, they were riding and driving about
Saint Cloud, believing that they might go off any day they chose.
Perhaps, however, this might not have proved so easy as they thought.
There might have been spies about them that they did not know of; and,
since nothing could be worse than their management of all business
matters, from inexperience and want of knowledge of other people's minds
and affairs, their enemies might feel pretty secure that the royal
prisoners could not fly far without being caught.
There was a plan for escape completely formed, as we know from the lady
to whom the queen confided it. No one doubted of the entire success of
this scheme; and the lady daily expected and hoped to have to wait in
vain for the return of the royal family from their drive.
They went out every afternoon at four o'clock; and often did not return
till eight, and sometimes even not till nine. The king went on
horseback, attended by grooms and pages on whom he could rely. The
ladies, in a carriage, were also followed by grooms and pages. The plan
was for all to ride to the same place on a certain afternoon, by
different roads,--the king on horseback, the queen and her daughter, and
the princess Elizabeth, in a carriage; the Dauphin and Madame de Tourzel
in a chaise; and some of the royal suite in other vehicles. On meeting
in a wood, twelve miles from Saint Cloud, the three officers of
Lafayette's staff were to be gained over, or to be overpowered by the
servants; and then all were to push on for the frontier. Meanwhile, the
people at home would wait till nine o'clock, quietly enough. Then, on
becoming alarmed and looking about, they would find on the king's desk a
letter to the Assembly, which they would instantly forward. It could
not reach Paris before ten; and then the Assembly would not be sitting.
The president would have to be found; and the Assembly could hardly be
got together, or messengers sent after the fugitives, before midnight;
when the royal family would have had a start of eight hours.
The lady to whom the queen confided this scheme approved it, but asked
no questions, and hoped she should not be told the precise day, as she
was to be left behind, and wished to be able to say that she had not
known that they intended more than an afternoon drive when they went
forth. One June evening, nine o'clock came, and none of them were home.
The attendants walked restlessly about the courts, and wondered. The
lady's heart beat so that she was afraid her emotion would be observed.
But presently she heard the carriage-wheels; and all returned as usual.
She told the queen that she had not expected to see her home to-night:
and the queen replied that they must wait till the king's aunts had left
France, and till they knew whether the plan would suit the wishes of
their friends over the frontier.
It was believed by many persons, and certainly by Lafayette, that there
were plots, at this time, against the life of the queen. An agent of
the police gave notice of an intention to poison her. The queen did not
believe it. She believed that her enemies meant to break her spirit by
calumny; but she had no fear of poison. Her head physician, however,
chose to take precautions. He desired one of her ladies to have always
at hand a bottle of fresh, good oil of sweet almonds, which, with milk,
is an antidote against corrosive poisons. He was uneasy at the queen's
habit of sweetening draughts of water from a sugar-basin which stood
open in her apartment. He was afraid of this sugar being poisoned. The
lady therefore kept a great quantity of sugar pounded in her own
apartment, and always carried some packets of it in her bag, from which
she changed the sugar in the basin, several times a day. The queen
found this out, and begged she would not take the trouble to do this, as
she had no fear of dying by that method. Poor lady! She said sometimes
that, but for her family's sake, she should be glad to die by any means.
She was indeed unhappy; but she had not yet learned how much more
unhappy had been multitudes of her people before they hated her as they
now did. She grieved to see her daughter growing up grave and silent,
and her little boy of five years old surrounded by sorrowful faces, and
subject to terrors at an age when he should have been merry, and smiled
upon by everybody near him: but she knew nothing of the affliction of
thousands of mothers who had seen their children dying of hunger on
heaps of straw, in hovels open to the rain; or of the indignation of
thousands more who had seen their lively, promising infants growing
stupid and cross under the pressure of early toil, and in the absence of
all instruction. All this had happened while she was paying 15,000
pounds for a pair of diamond ear-rings, and using her influence in
behalf of bad advisers to the king. She might wish to die under her
sorrows; she little knew how many had died under their most intolerable
sufferings.