"In the name of your safety, of your glory, madam," said the young officer, "master your grief; would you suffer any one but myself to witness such a fit of despair ?" The preparations for their departure were hastened, through fear, lest the troops of M.de Bouille might march on the town, or cut them off.
The king used every means in his power to delay them, for each minute gained gave them a fresh hope of safety, and disputed them one by one.
At the moment they were entering the carriage, one of the queen's women feigned a sudden and alarming illness.

The queen refused to start without her, and only yielded at last to threats of force, and the shouts of the impatient populace.

She would suffer no one to touch her son, but carried him herself to the carriage; and the royal cortege escorted by three or four thousand national guards, moved slowly towards Paris.
XXIII.
What was M.de Bouille doing during this long and agonising night the king passed at Varennes?
He had, as we have already seen, passed the night at the gates of Dun, two leagues from Varennes, awaiting the couriers who were to inform him of the king's approach.

At four in the morning, fearing to be discovered, and having seen no one, he regained Stenay, in order to be nearer his troops, in case any accident had happened to the king.

At half-past four he was at the gates of Stenay, when the two officers whom he had left there the previous evening, and the commanding officer of the squadron that had abandoned him, arrived and informed him that the king had been arrested since eleven o'clock at night.