ning of the 5th of December, 1637, the king,
having made a visit to the Convent of the Visitation, being overtaken
by a storm, drove to the Louvre instead of Blois. He immediately
proceeded to the apartments of the queen. Anne was astonished, and did
not disguise her astonishment at seeing him. He, however, remained
until the morrow.

[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF BLOIS.]

Soon after this, to the inexpressible joy of the queen, it appeared
that she was to become a mother. The public announcement of the fact
created surprise and joy throughout the nation. The king was equally
astonished and delighted. He immediately hastened to the Louvre to
offer the queen his congratulations.

The queen repaired to St. Germain-en-Laye, about six miles from
Versailles, to await the birth of her child. Here she occupied, in
the royal palace, the gorgeous apartments in which Henry IV. had
formerly dwelt. The king himself also took up his abode in the palace.
The excitement was so great that St. Germain was crowded with the
nobility, who had flocked to the place in anxious expectancy of the
great event. Others, who could not be accommodated at St. Germain,
stationed couriers on the road to obtain the earliest intelligence of
the result.

On the 5th of September, 1638, the king was greeted with the joyful
tidings of the birth of a son. A vast crowd had assembled in front of
the palace. The king, in the exuberance of his delight, took the child
from the nurse, and, stepping out upon a balcony, exhibited him to the
crowd, exclaiming, "A son! gentlemen, a son!"

The announcement was received with a universal shout of joy. The happy
father then took the babe into an adjoining apartment, where the
bishops were assembled to perform the ordinance of baptism. These
dignitaries of the Church had been kneeling around a temporary altar
praying for the queen. The Bishop of Meaux performed the ceremony. A
Te Deum was then chanted in the chapel of the castle. Immediately
after this, the king wrote an autograph letter to the corporation of
Paris, announcing the joyful tidings. A courier was dispatched with
the document at his highest possible speed.

The enthusiasm excited in the capital surpassed any thing which had
ever before been witnessed. The common people, the nobles, the
ecclesiastics, and the foreign embassadors, vied with each other in
their demonstrations of joy. A few months after, in July, an
extraordinary messenger arrived from the po