te into the evening the Dauphin sent to
the King for permission to receive the communion early the next
morning and without display at the mass performed in his chamber.
Nobody heard of this that evening; it was not known until the
following morning. I was in extreme desolation. I scarcely saw the
King once a day. I did nothing but go in quest of news several times a
day, and to the house of M. de Chevreuse, where I was completely free.
M. de Chevreuse--always calm, always sanguine--endeavored to prove to
us by his medical reasonings that there was more reason to hope than
to fear; but he did so with a tranquillity that roused my impatience.
I returned home to pass a cruel night.

On Thursday morning, the 18th February, I learned that the Dauphin,
who had waited for midnight with impatience, had heard mass
immediately after the communion, had passed two hours in devout
communication with God, and that his reason then became embarrassed.
Madame de Saint-Simon told me afterward that he had received extreme
unction; in fine that he had died at half-past eight.

These memoirs are not written to describe my private sentiments. But
in reading them--if long after me they shall ever appear--my state and
that of Madame de Saint-Simon will only too keenly be felt. I will
content myself with saying that the first days after the Dauphin's
death scarcely appeared to us more than moments; that I wished to quit
all, to withdraw from the court and the world, and that I was only
hindered by the wisdom, conduct and power over me of Madame de
Saint-Simon, who yet had some trouble to subdue my sorrowful desire.

II

THE PUBLIC WATCHING THE KING AND MADAME[35]

The King wished to show the court all the maneuvers of war; the siege
of Compiegne was therefore undertaken, according to due form, with
lines, trenches, batteries, mines, etc. On Saturday, the 13th of
September, the assault took place. To witness it, the King, Madame de
Maintenon,[36] all the ladies of the court, and a number of
gentlemen, stationed themselves upon an old rampart, from which the
plain and all the disposition of the troops could be seen. I was in
the half-circle very close to the King. It was the most beautiful
sight that can be imagined to see all that army, and the prodigious
number of spectators on horse and foot, and that game of attack and
defense so cleverly conducted.

[Footnote 35: From the "Memoirs."]

But a spectacle of another sort--that I