“Good!” said Pétion. “What has happened to them has been brought on by their own follies.”
“Still they are no less King and Queen,” replied M. de Latour-Maubourg.
“If affairs keep progressing as they do now, it is extremely probable that they will not long even have that title to console them.”
“Quite right,” said Barnave. “But still I think that, as long as they retain the titles of King and Queen, they ought to be treated as such.”
“I have no objection,” said Pétion, in an indifferent tone. “Do as you like, most loyal gentlemen.”
Saying these words, he left the room.
Barnave and M. de Latour-Maubourg, being alone, decided that the royal carriage should be accompanied only by a cavalry escort, so that it might proceed at a trot, and on the third evening arrive at Meaux.
At that moment, they relieved guard. I ran to the postmaster at Dormans, who was a friend of M. Drouet’s, and with whom we had lodged on our way to the federation, and prayed him to lend me a horse, to go as far as Meaux, where the royal family would halt, to pass the night in repose.
In these critical times, paternal feeling elevated itself. The postmaster had seen M. Drouet the evening before, who had announced to him my arrival to-day. He would not let me hire the steed—he gave it to me.