'
"The king accepted this fatal present, and swore upon the Gospel
never to open the packet; he richly rewarded the priest, who from
that period lived in a retreat so well concealed as to evade the
most diligent researches of those who sought to discover it.
"Some time after news was received, that on the very 2nd of
October, 1700, named by the priest, Charles II, king of Spain,
had appointed in his will Philip of France, son of the dauphin,
his successor and heir, an inheritance truly immense, as the
astrologer had foretold. You may well think how highly this
realization of the prediction inspired the king with confidence
as to the fulfilment of the remainder: and, on his part, he never
failed upon any saint's day or other solemn festival to stick the
mysterious pin in the talisman upon which so much depended.
"Nevertheless, spite of all these observances, his undertakings
did not invariably succeed, which astonished him greatly; when one
day the great Bossuet, happening to be at madame de Maintenon's,
the conversation turned upon magic and sorcery, necromancy and
their horrible profanations; and he expressed himself with so much
force and energy, that the king and madame de Maintenon looked
at each other without knowing what to say, and began, for the
first time, to feel compunction for what they had done, and to
regret their imprudence. They talked of it much together, and at
length resolved to reveal their crime to their confessors.
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