“Was the Queen mentioned in the indictment?” she asked.
“No,” replied the King.
“Thank heaven!” said the good Princess; “for if the Queen were taken, who, then, should look after these children?”
These very words foretell what the Princess foresaw—that if the Queen’s blood was demanded, her own would follow.
CHAPTER LI.
THE KING’S TRIAL PROCEEDED WITH.
The King had scarcely quitted the Convention upon the occasion of his first appearance there, than he was accorded the privilege of even the commonest prisoner on his trial—that of choosing two counsel for his defence. The King chose two—one named Trouchet; the other, Target. The former willingly accepted the office; the second dreaded to appear as the accomplice of the King; and wrote a cowardly letter, saying, to defend Louis Capet would be to outrage his own principles. But this precaution, so far from saving him, marked him out to the terrorists as a man who was a coward, and, in his turn, he was drafted to the scaffold, undefended and unlamented.
An old man, and a great one, of a family notorious for their wisdom and their justice—one Malsherbes, aged seventy-four, and who had served twice as a Minister during Louis XVI’s reign—took the position offered to the wretched man, Target, and refused by him.
Indeed, he asked for it. The act is well worth admiration. At seventy-four, when most men are weary of life, this good man asked for a position which he knew was one which might involve the forfeiture of his own existence. Said he, “I was twice summoned to the council of him who was my master at a time when everybody was ambitious of the post, and I owe him this service now that this office is, in the eyes of most persons, one of danger; and had I the means of acquainting him with my wishes, I should not seek another mode of striving to serve him” (he was speaking to the President of the Convention); “but I think, seeing the position you hold, that you can most safely convey to Louis XVI my desire to serve him.”