and Schuyler, and two more men behind us--and
with considerable difficulty and a good many angry expostulations, we
made our way out. Happily our carriages and servants with our wraps were
waiting in one of the inner courts, and we got away easily enough, but
the evening was disastrous to most of the company.
There must have been some misunderstanding between the marshal's
household and the officials at Versailles, as but one staircase (and
there are several) was opened to the public, which was of course
absolutely insufficient. Why others were not opened and lighted will
always be a mystery. Every one got jammed in the one narrow
stairway--people jostled and tumbled over each other--some of the women
fainted and were carried out, borne high aloft over the heads of the
struggling multitudes, and many people never saw their cloaks again. The
vestiaire was taken by storm--satin and lace cloaks lying on the ground,
trampled upon by everybody, and at the end, various men not having been
able to find their coats were disporting themselves in pink satin cloaks
lined with swan's-down--over their shoulders.
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