her whole set. All their arrows will fall powerless at my feet, for
the love of my husband and my pure conscience form the protection
which secures me. And what can these people accomplish against me?
They can slander me, that is all. But their calumnies will, in the
end, prove that it is lies they tell, and no one will give them
confidence more."

"Ah! your majesty does not know the wickedness of the world," sighed
Campan, sadly. "Your majesty believes that the good are not
cowardly, and that the bad are not reckless. Your majesty does not
know that the bad have it in their power to corrupt public opinion;
and that then the good have not the courage to meet this corrupting
influence. But public opinion is a monster that brings the charge,
passes judgment, pronounces the sentence, and inflicts the
punishment in one person. Who thinks lightly of it, arrays against
himself an enemy stronger than a whole army, and less open to
entreaty than death."

"Ah!" cried the queen, raising her head proudly, "I do not fear this
enemy. She shall not dare to attack me. She shall crouch and shrink
before my gaze as the lion does when confronted by the eye of a
virgin. I am pure and blameless. I pledged my troth to my husband
before he loved me, and how shall I now break it, when he does love
me, and is the father of my dear children? And now, enough of these
disagreeable things that want to cast their vileness upon us! And
the sun is shining so splendidly, and they are waiting for me in
Trianon! Come, Campan, come; the queen will take the form of a happy
wife."

Marie Antoinette hastened before her lady-in-waiting, hurried into