The king had witnessed, with tears in his eyes, his most faithful adherents ignominiously driven from his palace and exposed by his official protector to the insults and outrages of the populace.

Thus the royal family could hope to find no one disposed to aid their escape without the palace walls.
VII.
The Count de Fersen was the principal agent and confidant of this hazardous enterprise.

Young, handsome, and accomplished, he had been admitted during the happy years of Marie Antoinette's life to the parties and fetes of Trianon.

It was said, that a chivalrous admiration, to which respect alone prevented his giving the name of love, had bound him to the queen.

And now this admiration had been changed into the most passionate devotion to her in misfortune.