Permit me," continued Dumouriez, with respectful earnestness, "to represent to you that the safety of the king--your own--and that of your children, and the very re-establishment of the royal authority--is bound up with the constitution.

You are surrounded by enemies, who sacrifice you to their own interests.

The constitution alone can, by strengthening itself, protect you and assure the happiness and glory of the king." "It cannot last long, beware of yourself," returned the queen, with a look of anger and menace.
Dumouriez imagined that he saw in this look and speech an allusion to personal danger and an insinuation of alarm.

"I am more than fifty years old, madame," replied he, in a low tone, in which the firmness of the soldier was mingled with the pity of the man; "I have braved many perils in my life; and when I accepted the ministry, I well knew that my responsibility was not the greatest of my dangers." "Ah," cried the queen, with a gesture of horror, "this calumny and disgrace was alone wanting! You appear to believe me capable of causing you to be assassinated." Tears of indignation checked her utterance.

Dumouriez, equally moved with herself, disclaimed the injurious interpretation given to his reply.