Alas! with the exception of
themselves, every attendant openly expressed
their weariness and disgust.
"For several days the physicians have forbidden
the windows to be opened; and those condemned to
inhale the pestilential vapor of the room vainly
sought to counteract them by every powerful
fumigation. 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.
Pages:
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637