Part 32 (1/2)

Her Majesty and the Princesse Elizabeth not only allowed ave ood wishes for my safe return, and then left me with the Princesse de Lamballe

Her Majesty had scarcely left the apartotten to give me the cipher and the key for the letters The Princess immediately went to the Queen's apartment, and returned with thehness, ”I will tell you what Her Majesty has graciously conify to you in her royal name

The Queen commands me to say that you are provided for for life; and that, on the first vacancy whichyou at Court

”Therefore lesina, take especial care what you are about, and obey Her Majesty's wishes when you are absent, as i your abode near her You are not to write to any one No one is to be made acquainted with your route

You are not to leave Paris in your own carriage It will be sent after you by your man servant, who is to join you at Chalon sur Saone

”I have further to infor you the cipher, has at the saraciously condescended to add these presents as further hness then showed old watch, chain and seals

”These,” said she, placing them with her own hands, ”Her Majesty desired ard”

At the sahness presented me, on her own part, with a beautiful pocketbook, the covers of which were of gold enamelled, with the word ”SOUVENIR” in diae cipher of her own initials on the other The first page contained the nahness the Princesse Elizabeth, in their own handwriting There was a cheque in it on a Swiss banker, at Milan, of the naiven hness proceeded with her instructions

”At Chalon,” continued she, ” you other letters Take two places in the stage for yourself and your feive me the memorandum, that our old friend, the driver, may procure the passports You iven the police a full description of your person Now go and prepare: we shall see each other again before your departure”

Only a few minutes afterwards my man servant cae would set off, and that there was a lady in her carriage waiting for ne I hastened thither What wasit was the Princess I no her for the last tihtly over this sad moment Ithe visible changes which had taken place in the short space of a month, in the appearance of all these illustrious Princesses Their very coed the whole mass of their blood The Queen, in particular, froust, looked ten years older The other two Princesses were really worn out with fatigue, anxiety, and the want of rest, as, during the wholemurdered in their beds, and only threw the, three or four tio round to their different apartht be destroyed in their sleep, and ask, ”Etes vous la?”

when they would answer him from within, ”Nous sommes encore ici” Indeed, if, when nature was exhausted, sleep by chance cauid frames, it was only to awaken them to fresh horrors, which constantly threatened the convulsion by which they were finally annihilated

It would be uncandid inthe s of the two royal sisters of Her Majesty

I had never had the honour before to execute any cohness the duchess of Parma, and, of course, took that city in my way to Naples

I did not reach Parma till after the horrors which had taken place at the Tuileries on the 10th of August, 1792 The whole of the unfortunate Royal Faed in the Te heart in Europe un situation

I arrived at Colorno, the country residence of the duchess of Par out on horseback

I ordered es that I came by express from Paris, and requested the honour to knohen it would be convenient for Her Royal Highness to allow , post-haste, to Rome and Naples Of course, I did not choose to tell hness's servant, being in honour and duty bound to deliver the letter and the verbal e of her then truly unfortunate sister in person and in privacy

The mention of Paris I saw somewhat startled and confused her Meantie for me to say to her in German, in order that none of the servants, French or Italian, ht understand, that I had a letter to deliver into her own hands, without saying froht, and she soon followed raciously ordered me some refreshments, asked me from whom I had been sent

I delivered Her Majesty's letter Before she opened it, she exclaimed, ”'O Dio! tutto e perduto e troppo tardi'! Oh, God! all is lost, it is too late!” I then gave her the cipher and the key In a fewthrough it, she again exclaimed, ”'E tutto inutile'! it is entirely useless! I am afraid they are all lost I a here to rest frolad to see you”

She then took out her pocket handkerchief, shed a few tears, and said that, as circuht only commit her, her sister, and myself; but that if affairs took the turn she wished, no doubt, her sister would write again She then ood journey; and I took leave, and set off for Rome

I must confess that the conduct of the duchess of Par Perhaps she was afraid of showing too e the idea that Princesses ought not to give way to sensibility, like common mortals

But how different was the conduct of the Queen of Naples! She kissed the letter: she bathed it with her tears! Scarcely could she allow herself time to decipher it At every sentence she exclaimed, ”Oh, my dear, oh, my adored sister! What will become of her! My brothers are now both nosuddenly to erness, ”Do you not think she will? Oh, Marie, Marie! why did she not fly to Vienna? Why did she not co? Tell me, for God's sake, all you know!”