When the last lock of hair had fallen, the victims were marshalled, and they were led out to the carts waiting to receive them.
They sang the “Marseillaise” to the scaffold—they sang it when they reached it, the song growing fainter and fainter as each head fell; and the hymn only ceased, as the last head fell—that of their leader, Vergniaud.
The dead body of their friend was carried with them.
Such was the end of the founders of the French republic.
With them the brightness, beauty, youth, wit, frankness of the Convention passed away, and their places were filled by sullen, threatening men.
CHAPTER LXI.
THE RED FLAG.
The first to fall was the Duc of Orleans (father of Louis Philippe, King of the French). He had done nothing against the interests of the republic, but his birth was a crime, and his death was decided on.
The Prince and his sons were at table when the fatal indictment arrived.