'
"The tone in which the king spoke convinced his
attendants that he rather strove to re-assure
himself than his children, by the persuasion that
the receiving extreme unction was not so much
the consequence of his own dangerous state as a
mere act of obedience to an established custom.
It was then decided that the sacred ceremony should
take place at seven o'clock in the morning; and
here arose some little embarrassment; the
ecclesiastics insisting upon the necessity of the
king's making some striking and open atonement
for what they were pleased to term the scandal of
his private life.
"The king's chamber now presented a picture at
once solemn and gloomy. Grouped together on one
side the bed might be seen the different noblemen
in attendance upon his majesty; a little removed
stood the clergy, concealed from the invalid by
the closely-drawn curtains; in the midst of these
contending parties were the princesses going from
one to the other, vainly seeking by mild and gentle
mediation to produce a satisfactory arrangement.
It was at length understood, that, on account of
the extreme weakness of the invalid, the grand
almoner should pronounce in his name a kind of
honorable apology for past offences.
"You can scarcely imagine, madam, the universal
consternation spread throughout the chateau by
the information that the king was about to receive
the last rites of his church.
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