Madame de Maintenon, who had hurried to the king, and was agitated without being affected, tried to get him away; she did not succeed, however, until Monseigneur had breathed his last.

He passed along to his carriage between two rows of officers and valets, all kneeling, and conjuring him to have pity upon them who had lost all and were like to starve.
[Illustration: The King leaving the Death-bed of Monseigneur----36] The excitement and confusion at Versailles were tremendous.

From the moment that small-pox was declared, the princes had not been admitted to Meudon.

The Duchess of Burgundy alone had occasionally seen the king.
All were living in confident expectation of a speedy convalescence; the news of the death came upon them like a thunderclap.

All the courtiers thronged together at once, the women half dressed, the men anxious and concerned, some to conceal their extreme sorrow, others their joy, according as they were mixed up in the different cabals of the court.
"It was all, however, nothing but a transparent veil," says St.