for having forgotten them for an instant.

Anne of Austria had also followed the cardinal; her heart, though age
had made it selfish, could not help evincing towards the dying man
a sorrow which she owed him as a wife, according to some; and as a
sovereign, according to others. She had, in some sort, put on a mourning
countenance beforehand, and all the court wore it as she did.

Louis, in order not to show on his face what was passing at the bottom
of his heart, persisted in remaining in his own apartments, where his
nurse alone kept him company; the more he saw the approach of the time
when all constraint would be at an end, the more humble and patient
he was, falling back upon himself, as all strong men do when they form
great designs, in order to gain more spring at the decisive moment.
Extreme unction had been administered to the cardinal, who, faithful
to his habits of dissimulation, struggled against appearances, and even
against reality, receiving company in his bed, as if he only suffered
from a temporary complaint.

Guenaud, on his part, preserved profound secrecy; wearied with visits
and questions, he answered nothing but "his eminence is still full of
youth and strength, but God wills that which He wills, and when He has
decided that man is to be laid low, he will be laid low." These words,
which he scattered with a sort of discretion, reserve, and preference,
were commented upon earnestly by two persons,--the king and the
cardinal. Mazarin, notwithstanding the prophecy of Guenaud, still lured
himself with a hope, or rather played his part so well, that the most
cunning, when saying that he lured himself, proved that they were his
dupes.

Louis, absent from the cardinal for two days; Louis, with his eyes fixed
upon that same donation which so constantly preoccupied the cardinal;
Louis did not exactly know how to make out Mazarin's conduct. The son
of Louis XIII., following the paternal traditions, had, up to that time,
been so little of a king that, whilst ardently desiring royalty, he
desired it with that terror which always accompanies the unknown. Thus,
having formed his resolution, which, besides, he communicated to nobody,
he determined to have an interview with Mazarin. It was Anne of Austria,
who, constant in her attendance upon the cardinal, first heard this
proposition of the king's, and transmitted it to the dying man, whom it
greatly agitated. For what purpose could Louis wish for an interview?