"Are you in force?" he inquired.
"I am all but alone. My regiment refused to follow me and I have but half-a-dozen men."
"What a misfortune! but never mind—I have forty fellows and we must see what we can do with them."
The King was receiving a deputation from the town, whose spokesman said:
"Since there is no longer any doubt that Varennes has the honor to receive King Louis, we come to have his orders."
"My orders are to have the horses put to my carriage and let me depart," replied the monarch.
The answer to this precise request will never be known as at this point they heard Choiseul's horsemen gallop up and saw them form a line on the square with flashing swords.
The Queen started with a beam of joy in her eyes.
"We are saved," she whispered to her sister-in-law.
"Heaven grant it," replied the holy woman, who looked to heaven for everything.