[Footnote: The next
day, on the tenth Thermidor, Robespierre, who in the night had
attempted to put an end to his life with a pistol, was executed with
twenty-one companions. His brother was among the number of the
executed.]
The prisoners welcomed this news with delight; for with the fall of
Robespierre, had probably sounded for them the hour of deliverance,
and they could hope that their prison's door would soon be opened,
not to be led to the scaffold, but to obtain their freedom.
Therese de Fontenay, with the messengers sent by Tallien, left the
Carmelite cloisters to fulfil the promise made by her to Tallien in
her letter, to become his wife, and to pass at his side new days of
happiness and love.
She embraced Josephine tenderly as she bade her farewell, and
renewed to her the assurance that she would consider it her dearest
and most sacred duty to obtain her friend's liberty.
In the evening of the same day, Josephine's camp-bed was restored to
her; and, stretching herself upon it with intense delight, she said
smilingly to her friends: "You see, I am not yet guillotined; I will
be Queen of France.
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