"May I have speech with the king?" he asked, as he bowed.
"At present I am the king," answered Marie Antoinette.
Charny knew this as well as anybody, but he persisted.
"You may go up to the king's rooms, count, but I protest that you will very much disturb him."
"I understand; he is with Mayor Petion."
"The king is with his ghostly counselor," replied the lady, with an indescribable expression.
"Then I must make my report to your majesty as major-general of the castle," said the count.
"Yes, if you will kindly do so."
"I have the honor to set forth the effective strength of our forces. The heavy horse-guards, under Rulhieres and Verdiere, to the number of six hundred, are in battle array on the Louvre grand square; the Paris City foot-guards are barracked in the stables; a hundred and fifty are drawn from them to guard at Toulouse House, at need, the Treasury and the discount and extra cash offices; the Paris Mounted Patrol, only thirty men, are posted in the princes' yard, at the foot of the king's back stairs; two hundred officers and men of the old Life Guards, a hundred young Royalists, as many noblemen, making some four hundred combatants, are in the Bull's-eye Hall and adjoining rooms; two or three hundred National Guards are scattered in the gardens and court-yards; and lastly, fifteen hundred Swiss, the backbone of resistance, are taking position under the grand vestibule and the staircases which they are charged to defend."
"Do not all these measures set you at ease, my lord?" inquired the queen.