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 THE PRACTICAL

ZONE SYSTEM
This page intentionally left blank
 THE PRACTICAL

ZONE SYSTEM
for Film and Digital Photography

Fourth Edition

A Simple Guide
to Photographic Control

CHRIS JOHNSON

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Printed in the China

 CONTENTS

Preface to the Fourth Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

How to Read this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Chapter 1 “Will It Come Out?” .....................................1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Chapter 2 Print Quality and Negative Contrast ..................6
Subject Contrast and Photographic Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
The Procrustean Bed of Modern Photographic Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Working with Problem Negatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Chapter 3 The Control of Negative Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Expose for the Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Develop for the Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Normal Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Chapter 4 The Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Print Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Texture and Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
The Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Previsualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Measuring Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Chapter 5 Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Light Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Exposure Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
The Meter’s Dilemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Exercise: How Light Meters Really Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Exposure Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Exposure Placement Demonstration with Polaroid Films . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Exposure Detailed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Place and Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
v
vi Contents

Chapter 6 Development ......................................... 47

Measuring Subject Contrast with In-Camera Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Normal Plus Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Normal Minus Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Chapter 7 An Overview of the Zone System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Expose for the Shadows and Develop for the Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Zone System Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Chapter 8 Zone System Testing: Method 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Choosing a Photographic Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
The Use of Equivalent ASA Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Zone System Testing: Method 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Exposure Plan A For Roll Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
Exposure Plan B for Sheet Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
Expansion and Contraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

Chapter 9 Zone System Testing: Method 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

About the Development Time Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Development Time Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Film and Developer: Questions and Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

Chapter 10 The Zone System and Digital Photography . . . . . . . . 108

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
A Word about Structure and Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Digital and Film Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Pixels: Size, Quality, Resolution and Bit Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
The Scanning Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Bit Depth and Digital Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
The Zone System of Digital Exposure:
Exposing for the Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
A Summary of Digital Exposure Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
The Zone System and Digital Contrast Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Summary of Digital Photography Cardinal Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

Appendix A Color Management, Profiles and Color Spaces . . .173

Appendix B What is a Pixel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Appendix C Bit Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Appendix D Exposure and the Digital Linear Effect . . . . . . . . .193
Appendix E Films, Developers, and Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . .200
 Contents vii

Appendix F The Practical Zone System Film/Developer

Testing Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207
Appendix G Film and Developer Commentary by Iris Davis . . .211
Appendix H Alternative Methods for Extreme Expansion and
Contraction Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214
Appendix I Contrast Control with Paper Grades . . . . . . . . . . . .216
Appendix J Developer Dilution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218
Appendix K Compensating Developers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219
Appendix L Inspection Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Appendix M Condenser and Diffusion Enlargers . . . . . . . . . . . . .222
Appendix N ASA/ISO Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
Appendix O Filter Factors, The Reciprocity Effect,
and Bellows Extension Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224
Appendix P A Compensation Method for Inaccurate Meters . . .226
Appendix Q Zone System Metering Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Appendix R Exposure Record and Checklist For
Zone System Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230
Appendix S Suggested Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
Appendix T A Brief Directory of On-Line Digital and
Photography-Related Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235
Appendix U Examples: Zone System Applications . . . . . . . . . . .243

A Primer on Basic Film Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258

A Brief Glossary of Zone System and Digital Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277
This page intentionally left blank
 P R E FA C E TO THE FOURTH EDITION

I began the Preface of the third edition of this book by writing “Much has changed in the years
since 1986 when this book was first published.”
Back then the arrival of a few new films and developers seemed extremely important because
the essential nature of photography had remained the same for a very long time. Given the state
of things now, those words seem almost comically understated. Digital technology is revolution-
izing photography in ways that are so fundamental and at a pace this is so rapid that most photo-
graphers are either alarmed, or feel as if they are witnessing a remarkable dream.
Some photographers are reluctant to make the transition to digital methods because they
instinctively dislike working with computers and monitors and love the process of darkroom print-
ing. But of course photography has always had highly technical aspects and other photographers
are attracted by the opportunity to explore the precision and control that digital processes offer.
The point is we now have choices that were unimaginable not very long ago. Those of us who
knew and worked with Ansel Adams know that he would most likely have been at the forefront
of this revolution, just as he was when Polaroid materials became available. In fact he was
quoted in 1980 as saying that “I actually feel that in the next few years — it won’t be very
long — the electronic image is really going to be the medium in photography.”
The reason all of this matters is that the beauty and quality of digital prints can be astonishing!
But one of the ironies of photography’s digital revolution is that many people assume that
working with Adobe Photoshop and digital printers necessarily means leaving behind many of
traditional photography’s fundamental methods, skills, and even some of its values. This new
edition was written to demonstrate that this is definitely not true; especially when it comes to
the Zone System.
Another myth of digital photography is that it instantly makes the process of shooting and
printing effortless and almost automatic.
The truth is that the ability to control the process in such exquisite detail sometimes encour-
ages us to settle for nothing less that absolute perfection; this can consume huge amounts of
time! Also, every step in the process requires careful attention and enough understanding of the
concepts and principles involved to avoid time-consuming and frustrating mistakes. This is
where the Zone System can become an essential tool.
It’s customary to think of the Zone System as being strictly related to film exposure and devel-
opment. In fact, although this may sound grandiose, the Zone System can actually be a way of
seeing the world with applications in every form of photography, including digital.
A good example of this is the way I work with students learning studio lighting. In general,
studio-based photographers rely on incident light meters and Polaroid (and now digital video feeds)
ix
x Preface to the Fourth Edition

to preview their images before making exposures. But, because my students have learned the
language of the Zone System, I can ask them what “zone” they want a background to be and
they can not only visualize specific tonal values through these concepts, they also know how to
adjust the meter readings they get to achieve the results they want.
The Zone System is powerful and flexible and many experienced photographers have devel-
oped personal working methods that are essentially variations of the Zone System, sometimes
without even realizing that this is true. (Appendix U contains a number of examples of how the
Zone System can be applied to a wide variety of different photographic approaches.)
Until Ansel Adams (in collaboration with Fred Archer) formulated the Zone System, a serious
student only had two choices: either study sensitometry at a professional school or stumble
along learning how to solve problems by trial and error. The Zone System has done away with all
of that. But unfortunately, over the years, the Zone System has gained a reputation for being
highly technical and a complex waste of time. Happily this isn’t true.
The fact is that Zone System can be very easy to learn and practical to use if it’s approached
in the proper way.
After teaching hundreds of students, I can confidently say that if you have learned how to
develop a roll of film, you can learn to master the Zone System. To make this fact instantly clear
to my students, I’ve made a routine of asking them who is the most confused about photographic
technique. I then take this person outside and when we come back after no more than 2 minutes,
they are able to demonstrate, using Polaroid film, a mastery of exposure that never fails to amaze
the rest of the class.
I’m able to do this by using an extreme form of the approach used in this book: I simply show
them how to use my modified spot meter without bothering to explain why it works the way
it does.
An analogy could be made to learning how to drive a car. It could be argued that one should
begin driving lessons by carefully explaining in detail how internal combustion engines work,
what gear ratios mean to the transmission of mechanical energy from the pistons to the wheels,
and so on. This is roughly equivalent to teaching students approaching the Zone System about
logarithms, characteristic curves, and sensitometry.
The problem is that after you have finished explaining these subjects in detail, what has the
student really learned? Have you really completely explained the processes involved? Are there
not always ever more subtle and deeper questions of engineering and physics that you have
glossed over because you have decided that they are not important? There will always be peo-
ple who want to know more, and at some point all educators need to draw a line at what they
think students need to know before sending them off to experiment on their own.
My approach to writing this book has been to avoid trying to explain all of the science behind
the Zone System. Instead I teach all of its basic principles and the logic of how it applies to
real life.
I realize that some will find this approach not rigorous enough, but after years of teaching the
Zone System to beginning students, my experience has been that once you understand enough
to begin achieving consistently good results, the confidence you will gain from that accomplish-
ment will carry you through the learning process to the level of skill you need for your work.
 Preface to the Fourth Edition xi

There are a number of excellent, more detailed technical books on the Zone System that
should be read by those who favor a scientific approach to their work, and some of them are
listed in Appendix S under the section headed Technical Books.
The second question this book addresses is: What information do you really need in order to
apply the Zone System to your own photographic problems?
The answers to this question are contained in Chapter 9, “Zone System Testing: Method 2.”
Here you will find the results of tests that I and a good friend conducted on many different films
in a variety of different developers. (See Appendix F for a description of our testing method.)
These tests, which made use of all of the major products, were conducted under actual shooting
conditions. We then spent time field-testing these results in a working photolab and with my stu-
dents at the California College of the Arts to assure their accuracy. Appendices E and G contain
comprehensive descriptions of the characteristics and uses of all of these products.
My hope is that by updating and expanding this information, and adding discussion on sub-
jects such as digital photography and printing controls, this book can remain a truly practical
guide to the Zone System.
As you begin this text, keep in mind that the Zone System is not intended to be an end in itself,
any more than is the study of medicine. Learning any new technique necessarily involves an
ordering and restructuring of the way that you perceive the world. The beauty and the real value
of the Zone System unfolds in the practice of actually using it to create meaningful images. The
problem is trying to create with no system at all.
As you begin to use the Zone System you will find yourself modifying and adapting it to best
serve your own needs. As this happens the Zone System will become less formal and more a
natural part of your creative life.
This page intentionally left blank
 HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

For those who are just beginning photography, I’d suggest that you start by reading A Primer on
Basic Photography at the end of this book. The primer will acquaint you with most of the lan-
guage of basic photography and will generally make it easier for you to understand some of the
new concepts that you will learn.

Note: Readers familiar with other writing on this subject know that the terms “previsualiza-
tion” and “visualization” are both used among Zone System speakers to describe the act of
mentally picturing the photographic subject as the finished print. Also, the words “contrac-
tion” and “compaction” are both used to describe the process of reducing negative contrast.
After much thought, and because Ansel Adams used these words, I have decided to use the
terms previsualization and contraction throughout this book.

This edition begins by carefully explaining what the Zone System is and how it works before
dealing with how it applies to film and digital photography. Most people should read the first six
chapters to learn the basic vocabulary and concepts that make the Zone System unique. If you are
already completely familiar with the Zone System and simply want to know how it applies to your
digital work, you should skip ahead to Chapter 10: The Zone System and Digital Photography.
One final question: How does all of this apply to the bewildering array of equipment choices
available to photographers these days?
In this book what I have done is begin by outlining concepts and principles that are broad
enough to include many different applications. Then, rather than trying to explain how these
concepts apply to every conceivable camera, film, and software choice available, what I do
instead is lay out what I’ve learned about how to achieve fine results with the limited selection
of materials and processes that I’ve mastered. What you’ll find is that these methods inevitably
apply to many other tools and platforms but in specific ways you may have to figure out for your-
self. This has always been true for photography, but even more so now that things are changing
so fast.
My hope is that this book will make it easy for you to achieve your goals with either film or
digital photography. Photography as a creative process is challenging enough without having to
struggle with technical issues. Anything we can do to gain more control over this process is worth
the effort and this is what the Zone System is all about.

xiii
This page intentionally left blank
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 M. de Choiseul read the letter.
It was long, and full of instructions. It announced that they would
leave punctually to the moment.
As to the Comte de Choiseul, it commanded him to set out that
instant, begging him to take Léonard with him, who, continued Marie
Antoinette, had orders to obey him as he would herself.
M. de Choiseul read aloud that recommendation to Léonard, who
made a lowly obeisance.
He then burnt the letter.
At this moment one of the Comte’s servant entered.
“The carriage awaits M. le Comte,” said he.
“Come, my dear Léonard—come!” said the young gentleman.
“Why should I come?” cried the stupefied hair-dresser.
“Why should you? Are you not to obey me as you would the
Queen? Come! I command you!”
“But her Majesty’s diamonds?”
“You will bring them with you.”
“Where?”
“Where we are going.”
“But where are we going?”
“A few leagues from here, where we have to fulfil a most
particular and important mission.”
“Impossible, M. le Comte!” cried Léonard, drawing himself back
with affright.
“Léonard, you forget that her Majesty said that you were to obey
me as you would herself.”
He then assisted the despairing hair-dresser to mount into the
cabriolet, and lashed the horse into full speed in the direction of the
Petite Vilette.
At the same hour that M. de Choiseul passed the barrier the three
guards were admitted to the presence of the King, and then shut up
in an ante-chamber.
At ten o’clock M. de Lafayette was announced.
He was attended by MM. de Gouvion and De Romeuf, his aides-
de-camp.
Madame de Rochereul, his mistress, had told him that the flight
was arranged for the same night.
The Queen and Madame Elizabeth had gone in the evening,
without an escort, to promenade in the Bois de Boulogne.
M. de Lafayette, with the exquisite politeness which was one of his
characteristics, asked the Queen if she had enjoyed her stroll; and
added, “Your Majesty was wrong to stay out so late.”
“Why so, sir?” asked the Queen.
“Because the evening fog might do you an injury.”
“What! a fog in the middle of June?” said she. “In truth, unless I
manufactured one on purpose to hide our flight, which people talk
so much about, I do not know where I should find one.”
“The fact is, madame,” replied the General, “people not only talk
about your flight, but I have received information that it will take
place this evening.”
“Ah!” said the Queen; “I engage that it is M. de Gouvion who has
given you that good news.”
“Why I, madame?” said the young officer, blushing.
“I do not know,” replied the Queen, “except that, perhaps, you
hear a great deal more than is true at the château. Wait! Here is M.
Romeuf, who hears no news; I am sure he will contradict the rumor.”
“There is no great credit in doing that, madame,” said the young
man, “when the King has given his word to the Assembly not to
leave Paris.”
At ten o clock, General Lafayette and his aides-de-camp retired.
When they were gone, the Queen and Madame Elizabeth
summoned their domestics to perform the necessary offices of their
toilettes, and at eleven, as was their custom, they retired for the
night.
The doors shut, each commenced to dress.
The Queen and Madame Elizabeth assisted each other. They had
some plain dresses, and hats, with hoods, to hide the face.
They had scarcely finished their disguise, when the King entered,
in his costume of intendant.
For the last eight days, the King’s valet, Hue, had been in the
habit of going out in the costume the King now wore, and by the
same door the King intended to depart from. This was done in order
to accustom the sentinel to a man dressed in gray.
On arriving, he released the three guards from their hiding-place.
Madame Royale was ready, but the Dauphin was not. He had been
awakened from his first sleep; and so, for the sake of disguise, it had
been arranged to dress him like a girl. He made all sorts of
objections to the humiliating costume.
He asked, “If he were intended to act in a comedy?” They replied
“Yes.” And as he liked comedies, he allowed them to finish his
toilette.
The gardes du corps received their last instructions.
They were to travel as far as Bondy on M. de Fersen’s horses;
after that they were to take post.
They had calculated that, if they went at a moderate rate, they
would be at Châlons in twelve or fourteen hours. They approached
the door, and listened. All was silent.
Let us see with what difficulties they encompassed themselves.
 Firstly, against M. de Bouillé’s advice, who proposed two English
diligences, the Queen had had made two enormous berlins, in which
she might put her trunks, boxes and bags.
Then, in place of having a courier in simple livery, there were
three gardes du corps, in the livery of the Prince de Condé.
Then, in place of choosing three men who knew the route, they
chose three who had never travelled that way before.
Then, in place of hiding the King, who was supposed to be
Madame de Korff’s steward, in the other carriage, he was placed
face to face and knee to knee, with his pretended mistress, in the
principal conveyance.
Then, in place of having the carriages drawn by two, or even four,
horses, they must needs have six, not remembering that the King
alone is allowed to have that number.
Then, in place of arming the gardes du corps to the teeth, they
give them small hunting-knives for use, and locked up the pistols
and other implements of warfare in the trunk, covered with red,
bordered with gold, the same as the King used at Cherbourg.
Then, in place of taking M. d’Agout, that resolute man who knew
the route, and whom M. de Bouillé had recommended, they take
Madame Tourzel, the children’s governess, who claimed the place by
etiquette that D’Agout would have won by devotion.
Taking all in all, every precaution was taken.
Quos vult perdere Jupiter prius dementat.
 CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE ROAD.

In a moment, the clock struck eleven.

Every stroke penetrated the hearts of the fugitives, and caused
them to tremble.
They went out, one by one. But how were they able to make a
passage to the court, you will ask? This is how it was.
Madame de Rochereul, whose duties had finished on the 12th,
occupied a little chamber which opened into another, which had not
been used for six months.
The empty apartment was M. Villequier’s, first gentleman of the
bed-chamber. It was empty because M. Villequier had emigrated.
That apartment, situate on the ground floor, had a door opening
into the Cour des Princes.
On one side, the chamber of Madame de Rochereul opened both
into one belonging to M. Villequier and Madame Royale.
On the 11th, the moment that Madame Rochereul quitted the
château, the King and Queen visited her apartment.
Under the pretext of enlarging Madame Royale’s suite of rooms,
the Queen kept these apartments, and said that the femme-de-
chambre of the Dauphin could share those of Madame de Chinnai,
maid of honor.
When in the apartment of M. Villequier, the King demanded the
key of M. Renard, inspector of buildings. It was sent to him on the
13th of June.
 Numerous as were the sentinels, they had neglected to place one
at the door of that chamber, which had been unoccupied for the
space of three months. At eleven o’clock in the evening, the services
in the château being finished, the sentinels were accustomed to
witness the departure of a great number of people at one time.
So that once in the apartment of M. Villequier, and as the clock
struck eleven, they had every chance of escaping unobserved.
It was M. de Fersen’s business to smuggle the royal family out of
Paris, unobserved.
He was waiting with a fiacre, disguised as a coachman, at the
Wicket de l’Echelle; thence he was to take the fugitives to the barrier
at Clichy, where the berlin was in waiting, under the charge of an
Englishman, Mr. Crawford.
The three gardes du corps were to follow, in another fiacre.
The two femmes-de-chambre, Madame Brunier and Madame de
Neuville, went on foot to the Pont Royal, where they found a two-
horsed carriage stationed, in which they started for Claye, where
they were to await the Queen.
Madame Elizabeth stepped out first, with Madame Royale; then
came Madame de Tourzel, and the Dauphin, accompanied by one of
the gardes du corps.
The two parties were separated one from the other by about
twenty paces.
One of the sentinels crossed the road, and on seeing the first
party, stopped them.
“Oh, aunt!” cried Madame Royale; “we are lost! That man
recognises us!”
Madame Elizabeth made no reply, but continued to advance.
Madame Royale was deceived. They were not recognised—or, if
they were, it was by a friend.
 The sentinel turned his back on them, and allowed them to pass.
At the expiration of five minutes, Madame de Tourzel, the two
princesses, and the Dauphin were in the carriage, which was
awaiting them at the corner of the Rue de l’Echelle.
M. de Fersen was so well disguised, that the princesses did not
recognize him. It was he who knew them. He leapt from his box,
opened the door, and assisted them in.
At the moment that M. de Fersen shut the door, an empty fiacre
passed by. Seeing a brother cabman stopping, he stopped likewise,
and began to enter into a conversation about the times.
M. de Fersen, a man of ready wit, sustained the conversation
wonderfully, and, drawing a snuff-box from his pocket, offered his
friend a pinch.
He plunged his fingers deep into the box, took a long and
voluptuous sniff, and drove on.
At this moment the King, followed by his garde du corps, came
out in his turn, his hands in his pockets, and swaggering like a well-
to-do tradesman.
He was followed by the second garde.
During his passage, one of the buckles of his shoes slipped off.
The King did not care to stop for such a trifling matter as that, but
the garde who came after him picked it up.
M. de Fersen got in front of the King.
“And the Queen, sire?” asked he.
“The Queen follows us,” replied the King.
He then got into the carriage in his turn.
They awaited the Queen.
Half an hour passed, and she did not arrive.
What detained her?
 The Queen was lost. She maintained that the Wicket de l’Echelle
was to the right. The third garde, not knowing Paris well, yielded to
the Queen’s certainty, though he fancied that it was to the left.
They therefore left by the wicket at the water’s side; got confused
on the quays; crossed the bridge; walked down the Rue du Bac,
where the Queen was forced to acknowledge her error, as they had
completely lost their way.
The garde was compelled to inquire the way to the Wicket de
l’Echelle. They had to cross the Place de Carrousel a second time.
Under the arch, they found themselves face to face with some
lacqueys, carrying torches, and escorting a carriage which was
approaching at a trot. The Queen had just time to turn her face to
the wall, in order to avoid being recognised.
She had recognised Lafayette.
The garde came to the front, in order to the more effectually
screen her.
But she struck the wheels of the carriage with the little cane that
ladies carried at that period, saying, “Go to, gaoler!—I am out of thy
power.”
This is but a tradition; the garde says, on the contrary, that the
Queen was so frightened, that she dropped his arm and fled, but
that he ran after her, took her by the hand, and drew her back.
They crossed the Carrousel at full speed, passed the Wicket de
l’Echelle, and at last saw the carriage which was awaiting them.
M. de Fersen assisted the Queen into the vehicle, and she sank
into her seat by the side of the King, trembling with fear.
M. de Fersen had stopped a voiture, for the accommodation of the
three gardes du corps.
They jumped into it, telling the driver to follow the other vehicle.
M. de Fersen, who knew not Paris much better than the garde du
corps, who had followed the Queen, fearing to get lost in the
streets, went to Faubourg St. Honoré, along the length of the
Tuileries.
Thence, he soon found his way to the barrière of Clichy.
A few paces before the house of Mr. Crawford, the gardes du
corps got down, paid and dismissed their vehicle, and took their
places behind the other.
The travelling berlin was ready when they arrived.
The change was effected.
M. de Fersen overturned his carriage in a ditch, then mounted on
the box of the berlin. One of his men mounted a horse, and
conducted them to Daumont.
They took at least an hour to arrive at Bondy.
All progressed capitally.
At Bondy, they found the two femmes-de-chambre, who were to
have awaited them at Claye.
It appeared that they came in a cabriolet, expecting to find at
Bondy a post-chaise; but there were none, so they had struck a
bargain with the postmaster for a cabriolet, the price of which was a
thousand francs.
The driver of the other cabriolet was brushing down his horse
previously to returning to Paris.
At this place, M. de Fersen was to leave their Majesties.
He kissed the King’s hand, in order that he might be able to kiss
the Queen’s.
M. de Fersen would rejoin them in Austria.
He returned to Paris, to acquaint himself with what was going on;
he would then start for Brussels.
Man proposes, God disposes.
 The Queen, two years later, was executed in the Place de la
Revolution; and M. de Person perished at Stockholm, where he was
slain in a riot, stricken to death by blows from umbrellas,
administered by drunken women.
But, mercifully, the future was not known to them. They parted
full of hope.
M. de Valory borrowed a post-horse, and galloped on in advance,
to command the relays.
M. de Malden and De Moustier took their seats on the box of the
berlin, which set off at the full speed of which six vigorous horses
were capable.
The cabriolet came on in the rear.
M. de Fersen followed with his eyes the carriage, rapidly
disappearing in the distance; and when it had entirely disappeared,
he got into his own carriage, and returned to Paris.
He had on his costume as coachman; and much did it astonish the
driver of the cabriolet to see a coachman kissing the hands of the
King, disguised as a domestic.
It is true that M. de Fersen had only kissed the King’s hands in
order to be able to go through the same ceremony with regard to
the Queen.
That was another imprudence added to those which we have
already mentioned.
All went well as far as Montmirail, where the traces of the royal
carriage snapped asunder.
It was necessary to stop. They thus lost two hours—the days were
long; the night of the 20th of June is the shortest in the year.
Then they came to a hill. The King insisted on their walking up;
thus they lost another half-hour.
 Half-past four sounded from the cathedral as the berlin entered
Châlons, and stopped at the post-house, then situated at the end of
the Rue St. Jacques.
M. de Valory approached the carriage.
“All goes well, Francis,” said the Queen to him. “It seems to me
that, if there had been an intention of stopping us, it would have
been put into execution before now.”
In speaking to M. de Valory, the Queen disclosed her countenance.
The King likewise imprudently showed himself.
The postmaster, Oudes, recognized him; one of the spectators,
whom curiosity had drawn to the spot, at once knew that it was the
King.
The postmaster saw the above-mentioned spectator disappear,
and consequently feared some evil to the King.
“Sire,” said he, in a whisper, “for heaven’s sake do not expose
yourself, or you are lost!” Then, speaking to the postilions, “How
now, idlers!” cried he. “Is this the way that you treat well-to-do
travellers who pay thirty sous?”
And he himself, to set an example to the postilions, put his
shoulder to the work.
The horses were put to, and the carriage was in readiness
speedily.
“Off you go!” cried the postmaster.
The first postilion wished to raise his horses into a gallop. They
both fell, but gained their feet again on the application of the whip.
They wished to upset the carriage. The two horses under the
guidance of the second postilion fell in their turn.
They drew the postilion from under the horse he had been riding,
with the loss of one of his boots.
 The horses picked themselves up, the postilion regained his boot,
and, putting it on, he remounted his saddle.
Off goes the carriage.
The travelers breathe again.
But as the postmaster had warned them of danger, in place of
riding in front, M. de Valory took up his position by the side of the
carriage.
The fact of the horses having fallen one after the other, without
any apparent reason, seemed to the Queen a presage of evil to
come.
As yet, however, they had escaped the consequences of
recognition.
The man who witnessed the arrival of the berlin had ran to the
Mayor’s house; but that official was a Royalist. However, the witness
swore that he recognised the King and the other members of the
royal family; so the Mayor, driven into his last entrenchment, was
forced to proceed forthwith to the Rue St. Jacques; but, happily,
when he arrived there, he found that the carriage had started some
five minutes before.
Passing through the gates of the city, and noticing the ardor with
which the postilion urged on their steeds, the Queen, and Madame
Elizabeth gave vent each to the same cry:—“We are saved!”
But at that very moment a man, arisen, as it were, suddenly from
the very bosom of the earth, passed on horseback to the door of the
carriage, and said, “Your measures are badly taken! You will be
stopped!”
It was never known who this man was.
By good luck, they were distant only four leagues from Pont-de-
Somme-Vesles, where M. de Choiseul was awaiting them with his
forty hussars.
 Perhaps they should have sent M. de Valory to the rear, in order to
prevent this.
But the last warning had increased the Queen’s terrors, and she
would not part with one of her defenders.
They incited the postilions to greater speed.
The four leagues were accomplished in an hour.
They arrived at Pont-de-Somme-Vesles, a little hamlet, consisting
of two or three houses. They pierced with their eyes the wood which
overshadowed the farm to the left; and the trees which indicated the
windings of the river on the right, formed, as it were, a curtain of
green to hide the modest streamlet from the curious eye, but still no
De Choiseul, no De Goguelot, no forty hussars were to be seen.
On seeing that the place was desolate, the Queen uttered the
words “We are lost!”
In the meantime, let us explain why the hussars were not at their
post.
At eleven o’clock M. de Choiseul, still accompanied by Léonard, in
tears, who knew not where they were taking him, and who believed
himself to be the victim of some unjustifiable violence, arrived at
Pont-de-Somme-Vesles.
The hussars, as yet, were not at their posts; all around was
tranquil.
He alighted at the post-house, his example being followed by
Léonard, who had the diamonds still concealed in his bosom, and
asked for a private chamber in which to don his uniform.
Léonard watched him; his cup of misery was filled to the brim.
Now that M. de Choiseul had, as he believed, nothing to fear, he
found time to pity him.
“My dear Léonard!” said he, “it is time that you knew the whole
truth.”
 “How the truth? Do I not, then, already know the truth?”
“You know a portion. It is now my duty to tell you the rest. You
are devoted to your customers, are you not, my dear Léonard?”
“In life and death, M. le Comte.”
“Well, in two hours they will be here—in two hours they will be
saved.”
The hot tears coursed down poor Léonard’s cheeks, but this time
they were tears of joy.
“In two hours?” cried he, at last. “Are you sure of it?”
“Yes; they were to have left the Tuileries at eleven or half-past, in
the evening; they were to arrive at Châlons at mid-day; and an hour,
or, at most, an hour and a half, is sufficient to cover the four leagues
from Châlons to this place. They will be here in an hour at the latest.
I am awaiting a detachment of hussars, which should arrive here
under the command of M. Goguelot.”
Hearing a rumbling sound, M. de Choiseul put his head out of the
window.
“Ah, there they are, coming from the direction of Cilloy!”
And, in fact, the hussars were, at the moment, on the point of
entering the village.
“Come on!—all is well!” said M. de Choiseul.
And he waved his hat, making signs out of the window.
A horseman approached at a gallop.
M. de Choiseul went down stairs to meet him.
The two gentlemen met in the high road.
The horseman, who was M. Goguelot, gave M. de Choiseul a
packet from M. de Bouillé. This packet contained six blank
signatures, and a copy of the order which had been given by the
King to every officer of the army whatsoever his grade, commanding
them in all things to obey M. de Choiseul.
The hussars rode up. M. de Choiseul ordered them to picket their
horses, and caused rations of bread and wine to be served out to
them.
The news which M. Goguelot brought was bad. All along his route,
everybody had been in a state of expectation. The reports of the
King’s flight, which had been disseminated about for more than a
year, had spread from Paris to the provinces; and the sight of the
different bodies of men arriving at Dun, Varennes, Clermont, and St.
Menehould, had awakened suspicion. The tocsin had been sounded
in a village by the side of the road.
M. de Choiseul had ordered dinner for M. de Goguelot and himself.
The two young men drew up to the table, leaving the detachment
under the command of M. de Boudet.
At the expiration of half an hour, M. de Choiseul fancied that he
heard a noise outside the door.
He went out.
The peasants from the neighboring villages had begun to crowd
round the soldiers.
Whence came these peasants, in a country which was almost a
desert?
It was surmised that some days before the inhabitants of a tract
of land, near Pont-de-Somme-Vesles, belonging to Madame
d’Elbœuf, had refused the payment of irredeemable rights, on the
strength of which they had been threatened with military law.
But the federation of 1790 had made France one great family; and
the peasants of the villages had promised the tenants of Madame
d’Elbœuf to use their arms if any soldiers showed themselves in the
vicinity.
As we know, forty had arrived.
 On seeing them Madame d’Elbœuf’s tenants believed that they
had come with hostile intentions against them; so they sent
messages to all the neighboring villages, imploring them to keep
their promise.
Those situate nearest arrived first, and that is how M. de Choiseul,
on arising from table, found a turbulent throng of peasants
surrounding the hussars.
He believed that curiosity alone had drawn them thither, and,
without paying any further attention to them, gained the most
elevated part of the road, which runs in a straight line through the
plain of Châlons to St. Menehould.
A little further on than could be seen with the naked eye was the
village itself.
An hour slipped away.
Two hours, three hours, four hours, followed in the track of the
first.
The fugitives ought to have arrived in one hour at Pont-de-
Somme-Vesles; and the time they had lost on the road made it half-
past four, as we have said, before they arrived at Châlons.
M. de Choiseul was anxious.
Léonard was in despair.
About three o’clock, the numbers of peasants increased; their
intentions became more hostile, and the tocsin began to sound.
The hussars were, perhaps, more unpopular than any other corps
in the army, on account of their supposed plundering propensities.
The peasants provoked them by all sorts of insults and menaces,
and sang under their very noses—
“The hussars are forlorn,
And we laugh them to scorn.”
Presently better informed people came up, and spread a report
that the hussars had come, not to injure Madame d’Elbœuf’s
tenants, but to escort the King and Queen.
This was also a very serious matter.
At about half-past four, M. de Choiseul and his hussars were so
completely hemmed in, that the three officers counselled together as
to what was best to be done.
They agreed unanimously that it was impossible that they could
hold out much longer.
The number of peasants was augmented to about three hundred,
many of whom were armed.
If, by ill luck, the King and Queen arrived at this critical juncture,
forty men, supposing that each killed his adversary, would be
insufficient to protect them.
M. de Choiseul re-read his orders:—
“Manage in such a manner that the King’s carriage shall continue
its progress without interruption.”
But his presence and that of the forty men became an obstacle
instead of a support.
There was no doubt about it. Their best plan was to depart.
But a pretext must be found.
M. de Choiseul, in the midst of some five or six hundred gaping
peasants who surrounded him, summoned the postmaster.
“Monsieur,” said he, “we are here for the purpose of escorting a
treasure, but this treasure does not arrive. Do you know if any gold
has been this last day or so to Metz?”
“This morning,” replied the postmaster, “the diligence brought a
hundred thousand crowns, and was escorted by two gendarmes.”
If the postmaster had been prompted, he could not have spoken
better.
 “It was Robin and me who escorted it,” cried a gendarme, hidden
among the crowd.
Then M. de Choiseul, turning to M. Goguelot, said, “Monsieur, the
Ministry have preferred the ordinary mode of carriage. As a hundred
thousand crowns have passed through here this morning, our further
presence here is unnecessary. Trumpeter, sound boot and saddle,
and we will be off.”
The trumpeter obeyed.
In a second, the hussars, who wished nothing better than to be
off, were mounted.
“Gentlemen of the hussars, march. Form by fours, and proceed at
a foot pace.”
And he and his forty men left Pont-de-Somme-Vesles at five
punctually by his watch.
The detachment was to have fallen upon Varennes. He took the
by-road in order to avoid St. Menehould, but lost his way above
Mofficourt.
The little troop hesitated for a moment, when a horseman coming
from Neuville saw the perplexity of M. de Choiseul, and finding that
he was a Royalist and a gentleman, asked if he could be of any
assistance to him.
“Indeed you can,” replied M. de Choiseul. “You can conduct us to
Varennes by the Chalade.”
“Follow me, then,” cried the gentleman.
And he placed himself at the head of the hussars.
This gentleman was no other than M. de Malmy, and that is how it
was that I met him on the Place Latry, between two officers whom I
knew not—namely, M. de Choiseul and M. Goguelot.
 CHAPTER XXIX.
S T I L L I N F L I G H T.

There was therefore, no escort awaiting the King at Pont-de-

Somme-Vesles when he arrived there.
But if there was no escort, there were likewise no peasants. The
road was clear; the King therefore changed horses without an
obstacle, and started for St. Menehould.
At St. Menehould, M. Dandoins awaited the King’s arrival with as
much impatience as M. de Choiseul and M. Goguelot had; and about
mid-day he set out with his lieutenant on the road to Châlons, in the
hopes of seeing some sign of his arrival.
This road is one long descent from St. Menehould to Châlons.
They cast their eyes for a length of two leagues on a straight line,
traced, as it were, by a pencil, between two rows of trees, with
uncultivated green patches of country around them.
Nothing was visible on the road.
M. Dandoins and his lieutenant returned to St. Menehould.
Two hours afterward they again strolled along that same road.
To get to the barracks situated at the bottom of the Faubourg
Fleurion, it was necessary to pass right through the town.
They returned, as on the former occasion, without having seen
anything.
These in-comings and out-goings excited the attention of a
population already alarmed. They perceived that the two officers had
the appearance of being restless and uneasy.
 To the queries put them on the subject, they replied that they
were awaiting a treasure which apparently was delayed, and that
this delay gave rise to uneasiness.
About seven o’clock in the evening, a courier, dressed in a chamois
leather vest, arrived, drew up at the post-house, and commanded
horses for two carriages.
The postmaster was Jean Baptiste Drouet.
M. de Dandoins approached M. de Valory.
“Monsieur,” said he, in a whisper, “you are preceding the King’s
carriage, are you not?”
“Yes, monsieur,” replied the courier; “and let me add, that I am
astonished to see you and your men in policemen’s hats.”
“We did not know the exact hour of the King’s arrival. Our
presence annoys the people; demonstrations of the most menacing
character with regard to us have been made, and they have tried to
entice away my men.”
“Silence,” said M. de Valory; “they hear what we are saying. Rejoin
your men, sir, and try to keep them to their duty.”
MM. de Valory and de Dandoins then separated.
At the same moment the crackings of a whip were heard, and the
two carriages crossed the Place de l’Hotel de Ville.
They drew up in front of the post-house.
One can easily recognise the house, then built about three years,
and which bears upon its face the date 1788.
Scarcely had the carriage stopped, when crowds of people
surrounded them.
One of the lookers-on asked M. Malden, who was descending from
the box, “Who are the travellers who journey in this style?”
“Madame the Baronne de Korff,” replied de Malden.
 “What! another of the exiles who are sucking at the vitals of
France?” murmured the spectator, discontentedly.
“No; this lady is a Russian, and, consequently, a stranger.”
During this, M. de Dandoins, his policeman’s hat in his hand,
approached the carriage door, before which he stood, respectfully.
“Sir officer,” said the King, “how is it that I found no one at Pont-
de-Somme-Vesles?”
“I was asking myself, sire, how it was that you arrived without
escort.”
The sight of a commander of dragoons talking with the deepest
respect to a sort of valet-de-chambre, seated in the front seat of the
carriage, redoubled the astonishment of the people, and began to
change that astonishment rapidly into suspicion.
Still, the King took no precaution to hide himself.
At this moment, M. Drouet came out from the door of his house,
and seeing the man who was talking to the commander of the
dragoons, he cried, “Just heavens—the King!”
He had much the same expression of face as he had at the
federation, and his general appearance was such that he was not
easily disguised.
A municipal officer was there; his name was Farcy.
Drouet touched him on the elbow.
“Do you recognize that man?” said he, pointing to the King.
“Yes,” replied the other. “It is the King.”
“Call together the municipal council.”
Then, running to the door of the house, “Guillaume, Guillaume!”
he cried.
Guillaume, who was within, ran out to him. Drouet pointed out to
him the King.
 “That is he whom we have been expecting,” said he.
Meanwhile M. Farcy had run to the municipality, and there made
his report.
Drouet followed after him, and likewise entered the municipal
council chamber.
Scarcely had he turned the corner of the street, than the
carriages, which had been relayed in the twinkling of an eye, started
off at a sharp trot.
A somewhat strange event accompanied their departure.
Behind the carriage a sous-officer of dragoons, whom we have
seen speaking to the King, notwithstanding his inferior rank, pushed
on at a gallop, firing, as he did so, a pistol in the air.
Without doubt, it was a signal; but the citizens took it as a sign for
hostilities, especially as, on hearing it, the dragoons rushed to their
horses.
At this pistol-shot, cries were heard. A man who was threshing in
a barn on the left-hand side of the road, a little above the small
bridge thrown over the Aisne, left the barn, and tried to stop the
sous-officer with his flail.
The officer drew his sabre, cut the flail in half, and passed on.
During this time the municipal council had decided that some one
should run after the royal carriages, and stop them.
“But who will do it?” asked the Mayor.
“I will,” replied M. Drouet.
Other young men offered to accompany him; but he had not at
the post-house more than one horse of his own, with the exception
of a little pony, which was for his friend Guillaume, on which he
could count as well as he could on himself. Two other citizens seized
horses, and determining not to leave them, set out with them, or, at
least, behind them.
 They started, amid shouts of encouragement from the whole
town.
Two hours after, the two citizens returned on their paltry hacks.
They had not been able to keep up the pace.
But M. Jean Baptiste Drouet, bearer of A Warrant from the
Municipality to arrest the King, and Citizen Guillaume, continued the
chase.
I underline the warrant given by the municipality for the arrest of
the King, because I have never seen mention made of it by any
historian, and because, having seen the warrant in M. Drouet’s hand,
I can speak positively with regard to the existence of the paper.
I wish you to understand why I lay so much stress on the fact of
the existence of a warrant. It is because M. Jean Baptiste Drouet,
sent by the municipality of St. Menehould to arrest the King and the
royal family, is not the isolated fanatic, obeying a regicidal impulse,
as the Royalist journals and histories would have it, but a citizen of
unblemished character, who fulfilled but his duty in obeying the
commands of the magistrates of his country.
But to return to our tale.
The royal carriage started, and MM. Drouet and Guillaume in
pursuit. M. Dandoins ordered his dragoons to mount, and follow.
But the order was more easily given than executed.
The pistol-shot fired by the sous-officer had found an echo in the
hearts—or, rather, the imaginations of—of those who heard it. The
National Guard armed themselves with their double-barrelled guns.
A tumultuous and noisy mob gathered in front of the post-house—
that is to say, on the very road that the dragoons would be obliged
to follow, in order to come up with the royal carriages.
M. Dandoins was about to spring into his saddle, when the
municipal council commanded him to surrender on the spot at the
Hotel de Ville.
 He did so, and was then ordered to give his name and to show his
orders.
“I am named Dandoins,” replied he. “I am a Chevalier of St. Louis,
a captain in the 1st Regiment of Dragoon Guards, and there are the
orders which I have received.”
Suiting the action to the word, he placed on the table the
following order:—

“On behalf of the King, I, François Claude Amour de Bouillé,

lieutenant-general of the King’s armies, &c. The captain of the 1st
Regiment of Dragoons is ordered to march, with forty men of his
regiment, on the 19th, from Clermont to St. Menehould, where, on
the 20th and 21st, he will await a convoy of money, which will be
escorted by a detachment of the 6th Regiment of Hussars from Pont-
de-Somme-Vesles, on the Châlons road. The dragoons and their
horses will be lodged equally among the hotel keepers. The captain
will be reimbursed for all expenses incurred for the provender for the
horses, and each dragoon will receive increased pay in place of his
rations.
“D e B ouillé .
“Metz, 14th June, 1791.”

At this moment the cries of the people mounted to the chamber in

which the council were assembled, interrogating M. Dandoins. These
cries demanded that the dragoons should be disarmed.
“You hear, captain?” said the Mayor. “It is needful, in order to
tranquillize the people, that your men lay down their arms. Go down,
and order them to do so.”
“I will do so, if you will give me a written authority,” replied M.
Dandoins.
The order was given, and at the command of M. Dandoins the
arms of the dragoons, and the accoutrements of the horses, were
carried into the Hotel de Ville.
At the moment M. Dandoins and his lieutenant M. La Cour,
reappeared at the door of the Hotel de Ville opening on the Place,
the exasperation of the multitude reached a culminating point. Every
voice cried, “He is a traitor! He knew all! He has imposed upon the
municipality!”
They conducted the two officers to the town prison.
Let us now follow the royal carriages, and, as a matter of course,
MM. Guillaume and Drouet, their pursuers.
They had seen them start at full gallop by the Clermont route.
At eight o’clock a courier arrived from M. de Choiseul.
This courier was poor Léonard, with his cabriolet.
He came to tell M. Damas that he had left M. de Choiseul at Pont-
de-Somme-Vesles, at half-past four, and that up to that time no
courier had arrived.
Léonard told him also the danger that M. Gorguelot, M. Boudet,
and their forty hussars, had incurred.
M. Damas ran no less risk. The same excitement prevailed
everywhere. The sight of his soldiers had provoked murmurs. The
hour for retreat approached, and he knew that it would be difficult
to keep the men under arms, and the horses saddled, during the
whole night, so manifest had the hostile demonstrations become.
In this interval the cracking of postilions’ whips announced from
afar the arrival of the carriages.
M. Bouillé’s orders were to mount half an hour after the passage
of the carriages, and to fall back upon Montmedy, in passing by
Varennes.
M. de Damas rushed to the door, told the King what orders he had
received from de Bouillé, and asked him what his orders were.
“Let the carriages pass without making any remark,” replied the
King, “and follow with your dragoons.”
During this time, incredible as it may appear, a discussion arose
between the person charged with the payment of the postilion and
the postmaster.
It is a double post from St. Menehould to Varennes. They did not
wish to pay more than single. Ten minutes were lost in this
squabble, which estranged the people, who were helping.
At last, the carriages set off.
They could have been half a league distant when Drouet arrived.
Above Islettes, he and Guillaume separated, Guillaume took the
short cut by the wood, and thus gained a league; while Drouet
followed the road, striving to arrive at Clermont before the King or, if
he could not succeed in that, at any rate to catch him up at
Varennes.
On the other hand, thanks to the advantage which the short cut
gave him, Guillaume was sure to arrive at Varennes before the King.
If the King took the Châlons route, Drouet would arrive at Verdun
before him.
Drouet arrived at Châlons, not in time to arrest the King, but in
time to prevent the dragoons from following him.
M. de Damas’s dragoons were on horseback. M. de Damas
ordered them to march four deep, with their swords drawn in their
hand; but they stood motionless, thrusting their swords into their
scabbards.
At this moment, the municipal officers appeared. They
commanded M. de Damas to order his men back to their barracks,
as the hour for retreat had passed away.
During this time, Drouet had changed his horse and started off at
a gallop.
M. de Damas, who had not yet lost all hope of taking off his men,
doubted to what end M. Drouet had set off. He called a dragoon, on
whose fidelity he knew that he could depend; ordered him to catch
up Drouet; stop him from following that road; and, if he resisted to
slay him.
 The name of the dragoon was Legache.
Without making any objection, with the passive obedience of a
soldier—perhaps with the warm devotion of a Royalist,—he darted
off in pursuit of Drouet.
Scarcely had he started, when, as you have already been told, the
council commanded M. de Damas to withdraw his men into barracks.
But instead of obeying, like M. Dandoins, M. de Damas drew his
sword, struck his spurs into the belly of his horse, dashed into the
midst of the crowd, and cried, “All who love me, follow!”
Three men alone replied to this appeal, and dashed after M.
Damas, at a gallop, down the hill of Clermont.
Drouet was three-quarters of a league in advance of them, but he
was pursued by a brave, determined, and well-mounted man.
Only on leaving Clermont the road splits—one part going to
Verdun, the other to Varennes.
It was not probable that the King would go to Varennes, where he
had no relays; if that route had been indicated, it was simply to
throw pursuers off the scent.
Anyhow, Guillaume would be at Varennes; and as he was a native
of that place, he would have plenty of influence.
Drouet galloped, therefore, along the road to Verdun.
Scarcely had he gone two hundred yards, when he met a
postilion, who was leading some horses.
“Have you seen a large berlin and a cabriolet going past, one with
six horses and the other with three?”
“No, M. Drouet,” replied the postilion.
The King had therefore gone to Varennes.
Drouet got on the road to Varennes by cutting across the country,
after having leapt a ditch.
 This error, in all probability, saved him.
The dragoon, Lagache—who knew that the King had gone to
Varennes, and not to Verdun, and who saw Drouet take the road to
Verdun,—did not think it worth while to pursue him much longer;
and when he saw him change his route, it was too late—he was a
good half-hour in advance of him.
In the midst of all this, the King, continuing his route, had left M.
Dandoins and his dragoons behind him, at St. Menehould, and M. de
Damas and his at Clermont.
The one and the other ought to be pushing on behind him; and in
all probability there was nothing to fear in the localities through
which he was now travelling.
This reflection brought tranquillity to the travellers, who, between
Neuvilly and Varennes, find oblivion in sleep.
We have seen how M. Valory, not finding relays at his post, had
thought fit to await the illustrious travellers, in order to consult with
them.
We have seen the Queen descend from the berlin, take the arm of
M. Valory, and interrogate M. Préfontaine.
We have seen M. Préfontaine advance, trembling, to the door of
the King’s carriage, answer his interrogatories, return to his house,
shut his door, and afterwards open his window.
We have seen M. Drouet appear like a phantom from the midst of
the shadow, forbidding the postilions to proceed, and rushing
through the Rue des Réligieuses on to the Place de Latry.
We have seen the royal berlin stopped, and the occupants forced
to descend, and accept the hospitality of M. Sauce, who ushered into
a chamber on the first floor of his house the King, the Queen,
Madame Elizabeth, Madame de Tourzel, Madame Royale, and the
young Dauphin. The windows of this chamber were separated from
the windows of mine by a passage, some seven or eight feet in
breadth only.