four o'clock in the morning
The gens d'armes who guarded the queen , they alone had the courage to show her compassion . One night , when she was conducted from the session-room to her prison , Marie Antoinette felt herself so exhausted , so overcome , that she murmured to herself , as she staggered on , `` I can not see , I can not walk any farther . '' -LSB- Footnote : Goncourt , p. 416 -RSB- The guard who was walking by her side gave her his arm , and , supported by him , Marie Antoinette reeled up the stone steps that led to her prison . At last , in the night intervening between the 14th and 15th of October , at four o'clock in the morning , her sentence was pronounced -- `` Death ! execution by the guillotine ! '' Marie Antoinette received it with unshakable calmness , while the tumult of the excited mob was hushed as by magic , and while many faces even of the exasperated fish-wives grew pale ! Marie Antoinette remained calm ; gravely and coldly she rose from her seat , and with her own hands opened the balustrade in order to leave the hall to return to her prison !