Clery, "and the former minister melted into tears at the sight of his
master."

[According to M. de Hue, "The first time M. de Malesherbes entered the
Temple, the King clasped him in his arms and said, 'Ah, is it you, my
friend? You fear not to endanger your own life to save mine; but all will
be useless. They will bring me to the scaffold. No matter; I shall gain
my cause if I leave an unspotted memory behind me.'"]

Another deputation brought the King the Act of Accusation and the
documents relating to it, numbering more than a hundred, and taking from
four o'clock till midnight to read. During this long process the King had
refreshments served to the deputies, taking nothing himself till they had
left, but considerately reproving Clery for not having supped. From the
14th to the 26th December the King saw his counsel and their colleague M.
de Size every day. At this time a means of communication between the
royal family and the King was devised: a man named Turgi, who had been in
the royal kitchen, and who contrived to obtain employment in the Temple,
when conveying the meals of the royal family to their apartments, or
articles he had purchased for them, managed to give Madame Elisabeth news
of the King. Next day, the Princess, when Turgi was removing the dinner,
slipped into his hand a bit of paper on which she had pricked with a pin a
request for a word from her brother's own hand. Turgi gave this paper to
Clery, who conveyed it to the King the same evening; and he, being allowed
writing materials while preparing his defence, wrote Madame Elisabeth a
short note. An answer was conveyed in a ball of cotton, which Turgi threw
under Clery's bed while passing the door of his room. Letters were also
passed between the Princess's room and that of Clery, who lodged beneath
her, by means of a string let down and drawn up at night. This
communication with his family was a great comfort to the King, who,