and, besides, they were supposed to be having supper at the Dauphin Couronné in Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, the house run by their old acquaintance La Paulet. Their progress through the crowd, which was getting denser all the time, was something of a miracle. Several times, Semacgus drew Nicolas’s attention to a number of threatening-looking characters mingling with the throng in little groups. Nicolas shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of powerlessness. They found themselves sucked into an eddy of people. Jostled, crushed, half-carried, they somehow managed to reach Place Louis XV. Here, too, two swollen streams of people and carriages met, one coming from the Quai des Tuileries and the other from the Cours-la-Reine promenade. Standing on tiptoe, Nicolas noticed that more and more carriages had parked on the quai, unchecked by any representative of authority.
Pushed as they were in opposing directions, they found it a real struggle to get to the ambassadors’ mansion. What made Nicolas especially anxious was the realisation that there were no guards to be seen anywhere. Fortunately, he thought, no member of the royal family was due to be present at the display. They made their way, not without difficulty, past the structure that had been built in front of the statue of Louis XV: a Temple of Hymen with a magnificent colonnade. A kind of parapet ran all the way round it, at the four corners of which were dolphins ready to spew forth whirls of fire. The four sides of the temple were covered with symbols of rivers, also destined to spurt fire in sheets and cascades. The whole structure was surmounted by a pyramid with a globe on top. Semacgus criticised the proportions, finding them deeply flawed. Nicolas noted that most of the initial elements of the display had been placed around this structure, while behind the statue, on the side closest to the river, was a bastion from which the grand finale would be launched.
At the ambassadors’ mansion, they were greeted by Monsieur de La Briche, secretary to Monsieur de Séqueville, and the man responsible for presenting the ambassadors to the king. He seemed to be beside himself and was finding it hard to catch his breath.
‘Ah, Monsieur Le Floch, you see me under constant attack by harpies … I mean, by the ministers accredited to His Majesty. Despite my pleas, the city authorities have distributed more reserved places than actually exist. The ambassadors’ bench is overflowing. As for the chargés d’affaires, I’m going to have to seat them on each other’s knees. Monsieur de Séqueville had the same problem at Versailles during the wedding celebrations …’
He paused to scold two pages who were banging a newly painted wall with the bench they were carrying.
‘I keep adding more benches. How can I be of help to you, Monsieur Le Floch – where is my head? – Monsieur le Marquis?’
‘Le Floch will suffice,’ Nicolas said with a smile.
‘Madame Adélaïde2 calls you nothing else, Monsieur, and you are her favourite hunting companion. I don’t know where I’m going to put you and Monsieur, Monsieur …?’
‘Dr Guillaume Semacgus.’
‘Dr Semacgus. Your humble servant, Monsieur. Any privilege sets these people off. The least little minister or hospodar from the Ottoman court would prefer to be chopped to pieces on the spot rather than give up the place he thinks is due his rank. And Monsieur Bignon has thoughtlessly scattered invitations to every last alderman, official, monk, professor and God knows who else!’
A fat man in a grey and gold coat suddenly interrupted them and began speaking very loudly to Monsieur de La Briche, who responded with an abundance of promises. The man strutted off.
‘Can you imagine? That plenipotentiary, who represents the Palatine Elector, keeps yelling at me that he can’t accept this insult to his sovereign and that he will be in trouble back in his court when it becomes known. I ask you, is it my custom to insult a sovereign?’ He shook his head. ‘They simply won’t listen to reason.’
‘I don’t want to overburden you,’ Nicolas said, ‘but if it were at all possible to have a general view of the square …’
‘Say no more. Monsieur de Sartine would never forgive me if I did not make every attempt to satisfy you.’
‘If it came to that, I would plead your case; you can count on it.’
‘You’re most kind. Would it be convenient for you to go up on the roof? It looks like being a fine evening, you’d have a perfect view from up there and … you would get me out of a spot, for I really don’t know where else I could fit you in.’
He called a footman, and handed him a large key.
‘Take these friends of mine up to the roof by the small staircase. Leave the door open and the key in it, in case I have to put anyone else there. Oh, Lord, I must go, here comes the Conde de Fuentes, the Spanish ambassador. I can’t deal with his arrogance any longer – he can find his own seat!’
La Briche did an about-turn and skipped off. Nicolas and Semacgus followed the footman through a series of crowded drawing rooms. Major Langlumé, a piece of taffeta on his temple, was holding forth in the midst of an admiring circle of women. He looked daggers at the commissioner as he passed. After climbing several staircases, they at last reached the attic and then the roof.
The sky had grown darker and the first stars were out. The spectacle unfolding before their eyes left them speechless. In the distance, towards Suresnes, the last rays of the setting sun bathed the horizon in purple, the outlines of the hills around the capital drawn against the sky as if on a length of Chinese silk. The city lights glittered on the waters of the Seine. They were struck by the number of spectators gathered in Place Louis XV. A space had been cleared around the central monument, but it was overrun every time the crowd pushed forward. The gaps that appeared here and there corresponded to trenches that had not yet been filled with stones. Nicolas, always alert to the revealing detail, noted anxiously that the number of carriages and horses on the Quai des Tuileries and in the immediate surroundings was still increasing.
Semacgus was the first to speak. ‘It’s going to be a long and difficult process, dispersing all these people after the display. They all came at different times, but they’ll want to leave together. There’s bound to be congestion.’
‘Guillaume, I admire your sagacity and I’m grateful for the unofficial zeal that makes you aware of the dangers. I pray to heaven that Monsieur Bignon has thought of all this and has a specific evacuation plan in mind. I think our friend Monsieur de La Briche will have a few problems with all Their Excellencies in a hurry to get home.’
Nicolas walked over to the right-hand corner of the roof, stepped across the balustrade, much to Semacgus’s consternation, climbed onto the ledge and, supporting himself with one hand, leant over to look down at Rue Royale, which was so crowded that no one seemed able to advance.
‘Don’t stay there,’ Semacgus said. ‘One false move and there’s nothing to stop you falling. My legs are shaking just to see you.’
He held out his hand. Nicolas grasped it and jumped nimbly over the low columns.
‘When I was a child, I loved to scare myself by playing on the ochre cliff of Pénestin in a high wind. That was much more dangerous than this.’
‘You Bretons will never cease to amaze me.’
They fell silent again, captivated once more by the grandeur of the spectacle, which, as darkness fell, was concentrated on Place Louis XV.
‘Have you seen the Dauphine’s coaches? All of Paris is talking
