We will indicate by asterisks, by initials, or by name, according as we shall judge it advisable to have more or less regard for their position, those persons who took part in the enterprise the course of which we are relating.
The same night, one of the messengers returned with a note; it was short, but significant. It enclosed this simple statement, "Marseilles will move to-morrow."
The other person had remained to take part in the movement. Madame was beside herself with delight. According to what she had been told, Marseilles and the South only wanted the opportunity to rise in her favour. Night came; but, in spite of the fatigues she had gone through, the princess slept little. The first arm of her party was engaged, and was in action at that very moment. This is what really took place.
Throughout the night the town was thronged with Legitimist gatherings, carrying the white standard, and shouting, "Vive Henri V.!" At three o'clock in the morning a dozen armed men appeared at the Church of St. Laurent, got possession of the keys of the tower, and, whilst some rang the tocsin, others set up the white standard; others, without the tocsin, had done the same at the Patache. The tricolour had been dragged in the gutter. At the same time, the esplanade de la Tourelle was crowded with people. It was said that the Duchesse de Berry and M. de Bourmont were expected on the Carlo-Alberto. This rumour was set about with the object of diverting the attention of the police towards the sea. Finally, a great crowd still resorted to the Palais de Justice with shouts of "Vive la ligne! vive Henri V.!"
Unhappily for Madame's fortunes, the sub-lieutenant who commanded that post was a patriot, almost a Republican, and, instead of sympathising with the cries and the movement, he came out of his guardhouse, commanded the gathering to disperse and, upon a refusal to do this by the person who appeared to be leader, he seized him by the collar and, after a pretty violent struggle, flung him into the guardhouse. The leader was hardly arrested before a panic of terror took hold of the conspirators: cries of "Save yourselves!" were heard, the soldiers fell upon the fugitives and three fresh arrests were made. At two o'clock in the afternoon a frigate left the harbour to give chase to the Carlo-Alberto, which could be discerned floating on the horizon, without sail or steam; but, at sight of the hostile disposition being taken against her, the Carlo-Alberto got up steam and set sail, shrouded herself in smoke and sail and disappeared towards the south-east.
It was fortunate for the Duchesse de Berry; they believed she was on board, and, the Carlo-Alberto having regained the high seas, they were convinced it carried her away with it. She, however, waited still in the little house. The persons who remained with her could form an idea of her impatience as one, two, three hours went by. At last, at four o'clock, two messengers arrived, scared and breathless. They shouted—
"The movement has failed! You must quit France instantly!"
The duchesse bore up against the blow, and had the courage to smile.
"Leave France?" she said, "I do not see that; the urgent thing is to go from here, in order not to compromise our hosts; people may have followed the messengers."
Besides, it was not an easy matter to leave France. The Carlo-Alberto had disappeared; they could only reach Piedmont again by following Hannibal's route. Would it not be worth while risking everything, to take a short cut across France, and to take advantage of the conviction of the police that the Duchesse de Berry had fled on the Carlo-Alberto, in order to attempt in la Vendée an insurrection which had just miscarried so pitifully at Marseilles?