noon
But the people are bent upon this , that Marie Antoinette shall not reach the end of her journey with this last comfort of pity . They press on , howling and shouting , scorning and jubilant , nearer and nearer to the wagon ; they sing sarcastic songs on Madame Veto , they clap hands , and point at her with the finger of scorn . She , however , is calm ; her look , cold and indifferent , runs over the crowd ; only once it flames up with a last angry flash as she passes by the Palais Royal , where Philippe Egalite , the ex-Duke d'Orleans , resides , as she reads the inscription which he had placed at the gate of his palace . At noon the chariot reaches at last its destination . It stops at the foot of the scaffold , and Marie Antoinette alights from the wagon , and then calm and erect ascends the steps of the scaffold . Her lips have not opened once on this awful journey ; they now have no word of complaint , of farewell ! The only farewell which she has yet to say on earth is told by her look -- by a look which is slowly directed yonder to the Tuileries -- it is the farewell to past memories -- it deepens the pallor on the cheeks , it opens her lips to a painful sigh .