the king had issued. The
lowering brow of the monarch convinced him that his ministerial reign
was soon to close.

The health of the minister began rapidly to fail. He became emaciate,
languid, and deeply depressed. A few subsequent interviews with the
king satisfied him that his disgrace and ruin were decided upon.
Indeed, the king had already drawn up the _lettre de cachet_ which was
to consign him to the Bastile. About the middle of June, 1691, Louvois
met the king in his council chamber, and, though the monarch was
unusually complaisant, Louvois so thoroughly understood him that he
retired to his residence in utter despair. Scarcely had he entered his
apartment ere he dropped dead upon the floor. Whether his death were
caused by apoplexy, or by poison administered by his own hand or that
of others, can never be known. The king forbade all investigation of
the case.

Immediately after the death of Louvois, the king began to devote
himself to business with an energy which he had never before
manifested. Madame de Maintenon made some farther efforts to induce
him to proclaim their marriage, but she soon perceived that nothing
would induce him to change his resolution, and she accepted the
situation. Louis now yielded more than ever to her influence; but he
was always apprehensive that she might be engaged in some secret
intrigue, and kept a vigilant watch over her. In letters to a friend,
she gives some account of her splendid misery.

"The king is perpetually on guard over me. I see no one. He never
leaves my room. I am compelled to rise at five in the morning in order
to write to you. I experience more than ever that there is no
compensation for the loss of liberty."

Again she writes, in reference to the weary routine of court life:
"The princesses who have not attended the hunt will come in, followed
by their cabal, and wait the return of the king in my apartment in
order to go to dinner. The hunters will come in a crowd, and will
relate the whole history of their day's sport, without sparing us a
single detail. They will then go to dinner. Madame de Dangeau will
challenge me, with a yawn, to a game of backgammon. Such is the way in
which people live at court."

It will be remembered that the king and queen had an only son, the
dauphin. He was a man of ignoble character and of feeble mind. Still,
as heir to the throne, he was, next to the king, the most important
personage in the realm. The dauphin had thre