"I will attend to this," said he, leading the way; but stopping on the threshold he said, frowning: "But you will fetch them along, eh, lads?"
"Oh, never fear," replied the men, with a peal of laughter evidencing that no pity was to be expected in case of resistance.
At such a point of irritation, they would certainly have used roughness and shot down any one resisting. Billet had no need to come upstairs again. One of them by the window watched what happened in the street.
"The horses are ready," he said: "out you get!"
"Out, and be off!" said his companions with a tone admitting no discussion.
The King took the lead. Romeuf was supposed to look particularly after the family, but the fact is he had need to take care of himself. The rumor had spread that he was not only carrying out the Assembly's orders with mildness but by his inertia, if not actively, favored the flight of one of the most devoted upholders of the Royals, who had only quitted them in order to hurry up Marquis Bouille to their rescue.
The result was that on the sill, while Billet's conduct was glorified by the gathering, Romeuf heard himself qualified as a traitor and an aristocrat.
The party stepped into the carriage and the cab, with the two Lifeguards on the box.
Valory had asked as a favor that the King would let him and his comrade be considered as domestics since they were no longer allowed to act as his soldiers.
"As things stand," he pleaded, "princes of the blood royal might be glad to be here; the more honor for simple gentlemen like us."