Some new linen being at last sent (after the princesses had been obliged
to mend their clothes every day, and to sit up to mend the king's after
he was in bed), the sempstresses were found to have marked the linen, as
usual, with crowned letters; and the princesses were ordered to take out
the marks before they were allowed to wear the clothes. As it was found
that some correspondence was carried on between the prisoners and their
friends without, and the means could not be detected, all their
employments looked suspicious in the eyes of their gaolers. After pen,
ink, and paper had been forbidden, the queen gave directions to Clery as
to what should be done with some chair-covers of tapestry-work which she
and her sister-in-law had worked for their amusement; but the guard
would not let them be sent out of the prison, as they were supposed to
contain hieroglyphic figures, which would be understood by the lady to
whom they were directed. One day, when Louis was by his mother's side,
studying a multiplication-table which Clery had made for him, at her
desire, the guard interfered, saying that he was afraid the queen was
teaching her son a cipher-language, under pretence of giving him lessons
in arithmetic. So the poor boy learned no more arithmetic. While
reading history with her son, the queen had many lectures to undergo
about giving him a republican education,--lectures which were cruel
because they were perfectly useless. The queen knew nothing about
republicanism, beyond what she had seen of late in Paris; and she had
seen nothing which could induce her to instruct her child in its favour.
Everything that came in and went out was searched; but yet it does not
appear that the real means of communication were discovered. The
macaroons were broken, the fish cut open, the walnuts split, in search
of notes; and none were found. A book which the Princess Elizabeth
wished to return to the person who had lent it to her, had all the
margins cut off, lest there should be writing on them in invisible ink.
The washing-bills, and all paper wrappers, were held to the fire, under
the same suspicion: and all the folds of the linen from the wash were
examined for hidden notes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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