She pressed the little Duke of Normandy closely to her heart, and
quite forgot that she was all this while in the carriage; that near
the open portal the hostlers and lackeys were awaiting in a
respectful posture the dismounting of the queen; that the drums were
all the while beating, and that the guards were standing before the
gates in the fixed attitude of presenting arms.

The Duchess de Polignac ventured to suggest in softly-spoken words
the necessity of dismounting, and the queen, with her little boy in
her arms, sprang lightly and spiritedly, without accepting the
assistance of the master of the grooms, out of the carriage, smiling
cheerily, greeting the assembled chamberlains as she passed by,
hurried into the palace and ran up the great marble staircase. The
Duchess de Polignac made haste to follow her, while the Princess
Therese and the dauphin were received by their dames of honor and
led into their respective apartments. The Norman nurse, shaking her
head, hurried after the queen, and the chamberlains and both the
maids of honor, shaking their heads, too, followed her into the
great ante-chamber. After riding out, the queen was in the habit of
dismissing them there, but to-day Marie Antoinette had gone into her
own suite of rooms without saying a word, and the door was already
closed.

"What shall we do now?" asked both the maids of honor of the
cavaliers, and received only a shrug of the shoulders for reply.

"We shall have to wait," at last said the Marchioness de Mailly.
"Perhaps her majesty will have the kindness to remember us and to
permit us to withdraw."