Things were going worse and worse, the king was little more than a prisoner in the hands of the people of Paris.

The violence of the Assembly was ever on the increase, the mob of Paris were the real masters of the situation, the greater part of the nobility had fled, and any who appeared in the streets were liable to insult.
The feeling in the provinces kept pace with that in Paris.

Committees were formed in every town and village and virtually superseded the constituted authorities.

Numbers of chateaux were burned, and the peasants almost universally refused any longer to pay the dues to their seigneurs.

But at present none dreamt of personal danger.
The nobles who emigrated did so because they found the situation intolerable, and hoped that an army would be shortly raised and set in motion by foreign powers to put down the movement which constituted a danger to kings, nobles, and property all over Europe.
But as yet there was nothing to foreshadow the terrible events which were to take place, or to indicate that a movement, which began in the just demand of an oppressed people for justice and fair treatment, would end in that people becoming a bloodthirsty rabble, eager to destroy all who were above them in birth, education, or intellect.
Therefore, although the Marquis de St.Caux foresaw the possibility of confiscation of the property and abolition of all the privileges of the nobility, he was under no uneasiness whatever as to the safety of his children.