Pushing aside her grandmother, who continued to pray by the bedside, Madam Sausse walked up to the Queen and said with the bluntness and plain speech of the common people:
"So, so, you are the Queen, it appears?"
Marie Antoinette turned, stung at being accosted thus.
"At least I thought so an hour ago," she replied.
"Well, if you are the Queen, and get twenty odd millions to keep your place, why do you not hold to it, being so well paid?"
The Queen uttered an outcry of pain and said to the King:
"Oh, anything, everything but such insults!"
She took up the sleeping prince off the couch in her arms, and running to open the window, she cried:
"My lord, let us show ourselves to the people, and learn whether they are entirely corrupted. In that case, appeal to the soldiers, and encourage them with voice and gesture. It is little enough for those who are going to die for us!"
The King mechanically followed her and appeared on the balcony. The whole square on which fell their gaze presented a scene of lively agitation.