As
a last resource, they summoned the abbe Mandaux, the king's
confessor. The prelate excited his zeal in all its fervour, and
this simple and obscure priest determined to undertake that
which many more eminent personages had shrunk from attempting.
He therefore sought admittance into the chamber of the king, where
he found the ducs de Duras and de Richelieu, to whom he
communicated the mission upon which he was come.
At this declaration, the consequences of which he plainly foresaw,
the duc de Duras hesitated to reply, scarcely knowing how to ward
off a blow the responsibility of which must fall upon him alone.
The duc de Richelieu, with greater self-command, extricated him
from his difficulty.
"Sir," said he to the abbe, "your zeal is highly praise-worthy,
both the duke and myself are aware of all that should be done
upon such an occasion as the present; and although I freely
admit that the sacred act you speak of is of an imperative nature,
yet I would observe, that the king being still in ignorance of his
fatal malady, neither your duties nor ours can begin, until the
moment when the physicians shall have thought proper to reveal
the whole truth to his majesty. This is a matter of form and
etiquette to which all must submit who have any functions to
fulfil in the chateau."
The duc de Duras could have hugged his colleague for this well-
timed reply. The abbe Mandaux felt all the justness of the
observation, yet with all the tenacity of his profession, he replied,
"That since it rested with the physicians to apprize the king of
his being ill with the small-pox, they ought to be summoned and
consulted as to the part to take.
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