Chapter 17

EXPULSIONS AND ESCAPES.

May 3, 1848.

On February 24 the Duke and Duchess Decazes were
literally driven from the Luxembourg. And by whom?
By the very denizens of the palace, all employés of the
Chamber of Peers, all appointed by the grand referendary.
A rumour was circulated in the quarter that during the
night the peers would commit some anti-revolutionary act,
publish a proclamation, etc. The entire Faubourg Saint
Jacques prepared to march against the Luxembourg.
Hence, great terror. First the Duke and Duchess were
begged, then pressed, then constrained to leave the palace.

"We will leave to-morrow. We do not know where to
go. Let us pass the night here," they said.

They were driven out.

They slept in a lodging-house. Next day they took up
their abode at 9, Rue Verneuil.

M. Decazes was very ill. A week before he had undergone
an operation. Mme. Decazes bore it all with cheerfulness
and courage. This is a trait of character that women
often display in trying situations brought about through
the stupidity of men.

The ministers escaped, but not without difficulty. M.
Duchâtel, in particular, had a great fright.

M. Guizot, three days previously, had quitted the Hotel
des Capucines and installed himself at the Ministry of the
Interior. He lived there ~en famille~ with M. Duchâtel.

On February 24, MM. Duchâtel and Guizot were about
to sit down to luncheon when an usher rushed in with a
frightened air. The head of the column of rioters was
debouching from the Rue de Bourgogne. The two ministers
left the table and managed to escape just in time by way
of the garden. Their families followed them: M. Duchâtel's
young wife, M. Guizot's aged mother, and the children.

A notable thing about this flight was that the luncheon
of M. Guizot became the supper of M. Ledru-Rollin. It
was not the first time that the Republic had eaten what
had been served to the Monarchy.

Meanwhile the fugitives had taken the Rue Bellechasse.
M. Guizot walked first, giving his arm to Mme. Duchâtel.
His fur-lined overcoat was buttoned up and his hat as usual
was stuck on the back of his head. He was easily
recognisable. In the Rue Hillerin-Bertin, Mme. Duchâtel noticed
that some men in blouses were gazing at M. Guizot in a
singular manner, She led him into a doorway. It chanced
that she knew the doorkeeper. They hid M. Guizot in an
empty room on the fifth floor.

Here M. Guizot passed the day, but he could not stay
there. One of his friends remembered a bookseller, a great
admirer of M. Guizot, who in better days had often declared
that he would devote himself to and give his