I could not resist her earnest endeavours to rouse
me from my grief, and a grateful sense of her goodness obliged
me to deck my features with at least the semblance of cheerfulness.
Every hour fresh accounts of the king's health were brought me,
of a most encouraging nature; by these bulletins one might naturally
suppose him rapidly recovering, and we all began to smile at our
folly in having been so soon alarmed; in fact, my spirits rose in
proportion as those about me appeared full of fresh confidence,
and the mysterious visit of my evil genius gradually faded from
my recollection.
In this manner the day passed away. I visited the king from
time to time, and he, although evidently much oppressed and
indisposed, conversed with me without any painful effort. His
affection for me seemed to gain fresh strength as his bodily
vigour declined, and the fervent attachment he expressed for
me, at a time when self might reasonably have been expected to
hold possession of his mind, filled me with regret at not being able
more fully to return so much tenderness. In the evening I
wished to be alone, the marechale de Mirepoix had sent to request
a private interview, and I awaited her arrival in my chamber,
whilst an immense concourse of visitors filled my salons. The
king's danger was not yet sufficiently decided for the courtiers
to abandon me, and the chances continued too strongly in my
favour to warrant any one of them in withdrawing from me their
usual attentions.
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