more obstinate. He apprehended the
approach of death, and even wished for it, so oppressive was
languishing life. To his other ills was great dislike to every sort of
nourishment; he did not take anything necessary to sustain life. I
alone had the courage to get him to take what little he did. The doctor
advised him to go to the country. There for a few days at first he
seemed to be better, when he was suddenly taken with a complication of
diseases. His patience increased his pain. I saw plainly he could not
live long. It was a great trouble to me, that my mother-in-law kept me
from him as much as she could. She infused into his mind such a
displeasure against me, that I was afraid lest he should die in it. I
took a little interval of time when she happened not to be with him,
and drawing near his bed, I kneeled down and said to him, "That if I
had ever done any thing that displeased him I begged his pardon,
assuring him it had not been voluntary." He appeared very much
affected. As he had just come out of a sound sleep, he said to me, "It
is I who beg your pardon, I did not deserve you." After that time he
was not only pleased to see me, but gave me advice what I should do
after his death; not to depend on the people on whom now I depended. He
was for eight days very resigned and patient. I sent to Paris for the
most skillful surgeon; but when he arrived my husband was dead.

No mortal could die in a more Christian disposition, or with more
courage than he did, after having received the sacrament in a manner
truly edifying. I was not present when he expired, for out of
tenderness he made me retire. He was above twenty hours unconscious and
in the agonies of his death. It was in the morning of July 21, 1676,
that he died. Next day I entered into my closet, in which was the image
of my divine spouse, the Lord Jesus Christ. I renewed my
marriage-contract, and added thereto a vow of chastity, with a promise
to make it perpetual, if M. Bertot my director, would permit me. After
that I was filled with great joy, which was new to me, as for a long
time past I had been plunged in the deepest bitterness.

As soon as I heard that my husband had expired, "Oh, my God," I cried,
"thou hast broken my bonds, and I will offer thee a sacrifice of
praise." After that I remained in a deep silence, both exterior and
interior, quite dry and without any support. I could neither weep nor
speak. My mother-in-law said very fine things, and w