At that, dear friends, I recoiled in defeat. My interrogator, this monster, promptly turned upon his heel, abandoning me to my fate.

Chapter 27

I WAS COMMITTED to the Prison de l’Abbaye on the very day of the execution of Louis XVI. As for that treacherous event, I was grateful to be spared the sight of it, even if it was on account of my incarceration.

I had passed a sleepless night in the section house cell, wide awake and in mortal terror that the guards would commit upon me the violence they had promised earlier. For hours I had listened to their swearing and songs and speculation as to how the King’s head might fall. They laid wagers upon the colour of his blood. One ruffian claimed that the monarch was certain to bleed purple for he had been told as much as a boy.

At near to mid-morning I heard the echo of artillery fire which I was told announced that the blade in the place Louis XV had fallen. The grim work had been done. This was later confirmed by the wife of one of the guards, who appeared bearing a blood-soaked handkerchief which she held up before their marvelling eyes. Each one of the men fingered the sodden crimson linen with what seemed reverence and incredulity, as if they could not determine whether this scrap of cloth represented a triumph or some shameful deed. I stared, awe-struck at the horror of what I beheld. For all the talk of it, some part of me did not believe that such an abomination should ever come to pass. My thoughts upon that occasion were not the same as those of most. While many feared for the nation or wept for the Queen and her children, I could think of no one but Orléans and those nearest to him. I knew that the disquiet in his heart would be intolerable. My breast heaved with sadness, for myself as much as for the friends who I feared were lost to me for ever.

The monarch’s blood had not yet been washed from the cobbles when I was conveyed to the Mairie and examined by the mayor. Here, I learned that Thérèse’s disappearance had placed me in the most perilous of positions. What suspicion had fallen on the activities of my household was now redoubled. As the evidence they had confiscated from my apartments had yet to be examined, it was decided that I should be interned.