Lafayette and his National Guardsmen, who had been unable or
unwilling to allay the excitement in Paris, marched at a respectful
distance behind the women out to Versailles.
By the time Lafayette reached the royal palace, the women were
surrounding it, howling and cursing, and demanding bread or blood; only
the fixed bayonets of the troops from Flanders had prevented them from
invading the building, and even these regular soldiers were weakening.
Lafayette at once became the man of the hour. He sent the soldiers back
to the barracks and with his own force undertook the difficult task of
guarding the property and lives of the royal family and of feeding and
housing the women for the night. Despite his precautions, it was a wild
night. There was continued tumult in the streets and, at one time,
shortly before dawn, a gang of rioters actually broke into the palace
and groped about in search of the queen's apartments. Just in the nick
of time the hated Marie Antoinette hurried to safer quarters, although
several of her personal bodyguard were killed in the melee.
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