impossible to deny that there are various hidden causes, or sudden
inspirations, which have the greatest effect upon our destiny. As a
proof, I will relate to you the following circumstance. You are aware,"
continued the duke, "that the cardinal de Richelieu, the author of our
good fortune, spite of the superiority of his mind, believed in judicial
astrology. When his own immediate line became extinct by the unexpected
death of his family and relatives, he wished to ascertain what would be
the fate of those children belonging to his sister, whom he had adopted
as the successors of his name, arms, and fortune. The planets were
consulted, and the answer received was, that two centuries from the day
on which Providence had so highly elevated himself, the family, upon
whom rested all his hopes of perpetuating his name, should fail entirely
in its male descent. You see that the duc de Fronsac has only one child,
an infant not many days old. I also have but one, and these two feeble
branches seem but little calculated to falsify the prediction. Judge, my
dear countess, how great must be my paternal anxiety!"

This relation on the part of the duc d'Aiguillon was but ill calculated
to restore my drooping spirits, and although I had no reason for
concluding that the astrologer had spoken prophetically to the grand
cardinal, I was not the less inclined to believe, with increased
confidence, the predictions uttered respecting myself by my inexplicable
visitor of the morning. My ever kind friend, the duchesse d'Aiguillon,
was not long ere she too made her appearance, with the view, and in the
hope of consoling me. I could not resist her earnest endeavours to rouse
me from my grief, and a grateful sense of her goodness obliged me to
deck my features with at least the semblance of cheerfulness. Every
hour fresh accounts of the king's health were brought me, of a most
encouraging nature; by these bulletins one might naturally suppose him
rapidly recovering, and we all began to smile at our folly in having
been so soon alarmed; in fact, my spirits rose in proportion as the
mysterious visit of my evil genius gradually faded from my recollection.

In this manner the day passed away. I visited the king from time
to time, and he, although evidently much oppressed and indisposed,
conversed with me without any painful effort. His affection for me
seemed to gain fresh strength as his bodily vigour declined, and the
fervent attachment he expre