Alas, madam, what is a king when he
can no longer grasp the sceptre? How great a
leveller is death! The prelates abandoned the sick
chamber, and left a simple cure of the chapel to
take their place; the lords in waiting and other
officers shrunk from the duties of their office,
and with their eyes fixed on a time-piece eagerly
awaited the hour which should free them from it.
The princesses, who perceived this impatience,
durst make no complaint, while the king, occasionally
recovering his senses, uttered broken sentences,
expressive of the religious terror which had seized
his mind. At length, at a few minutes past three
o'clock, Lemonnier, in his capacity of first
physician, said, after laying his hand upon the
heart of the patient, and placing a glass before
his lips, 'The king is dead.' At these words all
present strove with indecent haste to quit the
chamber; not a single sigh, not one regret was
heard. The princesses were carried insensible
to their apartments.
"The extinction of a
which had been
placed in a certain window, announced the accession
of the dauphin ere the duc d'Aumont had informed
him of the decease of his august grandsire."
This letter wrung from me some bitter tears, as well for the king,
who had so lavishly bestowed his affections upon me, as for
myself. What would now be my fate? Alas! I knew not; all my
brilliant prospects were buried in the coffin of my late protector.
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