They arrived at Meaux about six in the evening.
The King again invited the commissaires to sup with him, as he had before invited them to dine. Pétion accepted the invitation; M. de Latour-Maubourg and Barnave refused it.
But the Queen, with charming grace, turning towards Barnave, said, “Pray accept it, M. Barnave, as, after the meal, I shall have need of you.”
Barnave bowed, the King signed to M. de Latour-Maubourg and the two took their places at the royal table.
They were located in the palace of the Bishop of Meaux, a melancholy-looking place enough, with its dark oak staircase and mysterious and dusty passages.
I was on guard at the garden gate.
After dinner, the Queen, who, as she had said to Barnave, had need of him, took his arm, and mounted the staircase to the apartments above, under pretext of seeing a chamber once occupied by Bossuet.
As for the King, he descended into the gardens with Pétion. Pétion it was who desired the tête-à-tête.
Pétion, who, apart from his folly, was a good man, and had a good heart, had formed an idea of escape for the King. It was, to allow the three body-guards to go, so that they might disguise themselves as National Guards, and so facilitate their entrance into Paris.
But, extraordinary to relate, the King could not understand this idea of Pétion’s; and not wishing to be under an obligation to Pétion, and having the absurd suspicion that he wished to assassinate the guards, he refused.