When the carriages came in sight, the drums beat a salute, the music of the regiments burst forth, the soldiers presented arms. Madame, in the midst of the throng, was put to it to descend from her calash, when it drew up in front of the hotel; I had hastened up; she recognised me among the crowd. She held out her hand to me across the established authorities and the beggars who flung themselves upon her, and said:
"'My son is your King;' do help me to pass through."
I did not find her very much changed, though she was thinner; she had something of a sprightly, little girl.
I walked in front of her; she gave her arm to M. de Lucchesi; Madame de Podenas[201] followed her. We climbed the stairs and entered the apartments between two rows of grenadiers, amid the clatter of arms, the sound of trumpets, the cheers of the spectators. They took me for the majordomo, they applied to me to be presented to the mother of Henry V. My name was linked to those names in the minds of the crowd.
The Duchesse of Berry.
Arrival of Madame.