He accused her of treason against the nation.
Could the defender of Du Barry, who had also defended Marie
Antoinette, find an eloquent word? No; Fouquier Tinville was
more eloquent than Chauveau-Lagarde. So the mistress of Louis
was condemned. It was eleven o'clock in the evening--the hour
for supper at Versailles when she was queen!
She passed the night in prayer and weeping, or rather in a frenzy
of fright. In the morning she said it was "too early to die"; she
wished to have a little time in order to make some disclosures.
The Comite sent someone to listen to her. What did she say?
She revealed all that was hidden away at Lucienne; she gave
word by word an inventory of the treasures she had concealed,
forgetting nothing, for did not each word give her a second of time?
"Have you finished?" said the inquisitor. "No," said Jeanne. "I
have not mentioned a silver syringe concealed under the staircase!"
Meanwhile the horses of destiny stamped with impatience, and
spectators were knocking at the prison gate. When they put her,
already half dead, on the little cart, she bent her head and grew
pale. The Du Barry alone--a sinner without redemption.
She saw the people in the square of Louis XV; she struck her
breast three times and murmured: "It is my fault!" But this
Christian resignation abandoned her when she mounted the
scaffold--there where the statue of Louis XV had been--and she
implored of the executioner:
"One moment, Mr.
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