THE LAST ABSOLUTE KING.
At eight at night, on the ninth day of May, 1774, Versailles presented
the most curious and interesting of sights.
Since the first day of the month, Louis XV., stricken with a sickness
of which the physicians dared not at the outset reveal the gravity, had
kept his bed, and began look around him for truth or hope.
Two head physicians sided with the Dauphin and Dubarry severally; one
said that the truth would kill the patient, and the other that he ought
to know so as to make a Christian end.
But to call in Religion was to expel the favorite. When the Church comes
in at one door, Satan must fly out of the other.
While all the parties were wrangling, the disease easily rooted itself
in the old, debauched body and so strengthened itself that medicine was
not to put it to rout.
At the first, the King was seen between his two daughters, the favorite
and the courtiers most liked. They laughed and made light of the affair.
Suddenly appeared at Versailles the stern and austere countenance of the
eldest daughter, the Princess Louise, Lady Superior of St. Denis, come
to console her father.
She stalked in, pale and cold as a statue of Fate. Long since she had
ceased to be a daughter to her father and sister to his children. She
resembled the prophets of woe who come in calamities to scatter ashes on
the gold and jewels. She happened in at Versailles on a day when Louis
was kissing the hands of Countess Dubarry and using them as soft brushes
for his inflamed cheeks and aching head.
On seeing her, all fled. Her trembling sisters ran to their rooms; Lady
Dubarry dropped a courtsey and hastened to her apartments; the
privileged courtiers stole into the outer rooms; the two chief
physicians alone stayed by the fireplace.
“My daughter,” muttered the monarch, opening his eyes which pain and
fever had closed.
“Your daughter,” said the Lady Louise, “who comes from God, whom you
have forgotten, to remind you. Pursuant to etiquette, your malady is one
of the mortal ones which compels the Royal Family to gather around your
bedside. When one of us has the small pox, he must have the Holy
Sacrament at once administered.”
“Mortal?” echoed the King. “Doctors, is this true?”
The two medical attendants bowed.
“Break with the past,” continued the abbess, taking up his hand which
she daringly covered with kisses. “And set the people an example. Had no
one warned you, you ran the risk of being lost for eternity. Now,
promise to live a Christian if you live: or die one, if die you must.”
She kissed the royal hand once more as she finished and stalked forth
slowly.
That evening Lady Dubarry had to retire from the Town and suburbs.
This is why on the night in question, Versailles was in tribulation.
Would the King mend and bring back Lady Dubarry, or would he die and his
successor send her farther than where she paused?
On a stone bench at the corner of the street opposite the palace an old
man was seated, leaning on his cane, with his eyes bent on the place. He
was so buried in his contemplation among the crowds in groups, that he
did not perceive a young man who crossed so as to stand by him.
This young man had a bald forehead, a hook nose, with a twist to it,
high cheekbones and a sardonic smile.
“Taking the air?” he said as he gave a squint.
The old man looked up.
“Ah, my clever surgeon,” he said.
“Yes, illustrious master,” and he sat by his side. “It appears that the
King is getting better? only the small pox, that so many people have.
Besides, he has skillful doctors by him. I wager that Louis the
Well-Beloved will scratch through; only, people will not cram the
churches this time to sing Oh, be joyful! over his recov---- ”
“Hush,” said the old man, starting: “Silence, for you are jesting at a
man on whom the finger of God is even now laid.”
Surprised at this language, the younger man looked at the Palace.
“Do you see that window in which burns a shaded lamp? That represents
the life of the King. A friend of mine, Dr. Jussieu, will put it out
when the life goes out. His successor is watching that signal, behind a
curtain. This signal, warning the ambitious when their era commences,
tells the poor philosopher like me when the breath of heaven blasts an
age and a monarchy. Look at this night, young man, how full of storms.
No doubt I shall see the dawn, for I am not so old as not to see the
morrow. But you are more likely to see the end of this new reign than
I.”
“Ah!” cried the young man, as he pointed to the window shrouded in
darkness.
“The King is dead!” said the old man, rising in dread.
Both were silent for a few instants.
Suddenly, a coach drawn by eight horses gallopped out of the palace
courtyard, with two outriders carrying torches. In the vehicle sat the
Dauphin, Marie Antoinette and the King’s sister, Lady Elizabeth. The
torchlight flared ominously on their faces.
The equipage passed close to the two spectators.
“Long live King Louis the Sixteenth--Long live his Queen!” yelled the
young man in a shrill voice as if he were insulting the new rulers
rather than greeting them.
The Dauphin bowed, the new Queen showed a sad, stern face, and the coach
disappeared.
“My dear Rousseau, Lady Dubarry is a widow,” jeeringly said the young
man.
“She will be exiled to-morrow,” added the other. “Farewell, Dr. Marat.”
How Marat, chief among the Paris revolutionists, fared, we have to tell
in following pages. His career will be traced, as well as those of
Andrea, of Gilbert and their son, while we are to behold under another
phase the remarkable figure of the arch-conspirator, Balsamo, carrying
on his gigantic mission of overturning the throne of the Bourbons. The
work is entitled: “THE QUEEN’S NECKLACE.”
THE END.
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Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:
Andrea hear the compliment=> Andrea heard the compliment {pg 6}
God have merey=> God have mercy {pg 8}
Oh, dctoor=> Oh, doctor {pg 12}
replied the young man gloomly=> replied the young man gloomily {pg 19}
romanic=> romantic {pg 23}
carriage-doorway=> carraige-doorway {pg 24}
nine oclock=> nine o’clock {pg 35}
they waned their plump hands=> they waved their plump hands {pg 36}
servants’s=> servant’ {pg 39}
It was a suit of anteroom and two parlors=> It was a suite of anteroom
and two parlors {pg 40}
hostility and resistence=> hostility and resistance {pg 45}
his eyes was kindled=> his eyes were kindled {pg 47}
But is was our sole resource=> But it was our sole resource {pg 51}
Which would Compromise Choiseul=> Which would compromise Choiseul {pg
52}
The duchess write=> The duchess wrote {pg 53}
Honesty not, count=> Honestly not, count {pg 54}
nearly everbody flocked=> nearly everybody flocked {pg 61}
empoverished nobleman’s daughter=> impoverished nobleman’s daughter {pg
65}
full of caressess=> full of caresses {pg 75}
and a face rose with cautoin=> and a face rose with caution {pg 79}
circumstancial=> circumstantial {pg 83}
serious dilema=> serious dilemma {pg 95}
vitrol so sharp=> vitriol so sharp {pg 96}
some idots or knaves=> some idiots or knaves {pg 98}
comtemporaneous=> contemporaneous {pg 102}
Bosicrucian=> Rosicrucian {pg 106}
it’s work wherever I shall be=> its work wherever I shall be {pg 108}
bidding us to Wait=> bidding us to wait {pg 109}
ready to be imolated=> ready to be immolated {pg 112}
the remans shuddering or moving=> the remains shuddering or moving {pg
116}
babarous peoples=> barbarous peoples {pg 116}
garote=> garrote {pg 116}
gentelmen and brothers=> gentlemen and brothers {pg 122}
became strociously=> became atrociously {pg 126}
droppod into the box=> dropped into the box {pg 129}
catching a glmpse=> catching a glimpse {pg 130}
what thay would do=> what they would do {pg 132}
Good by, Taverney!=> Good bye, Taverney! {pg 133}
jealously has driven her mad=> jealousy has driven her mad {pg 135}
for nature made me you equal=> for nature made me your equal {pg 144}
invited them into her suit=> invited them into her suite {pg 147}
I were such jewelry=> I wear such jewelry {pg 149}
ringing in the right for Nicole=> ringing in the night for Nicole {pg
153}
would be caught and expell=> would be caught and expelled {pg 160}
violet and sulpher light=> violet and sulphur light {pg 163}
is slience a word or a fact=> is silence a word or a fact {pg 164}
to dro the name=> to drop the name {pg 169}
You will recken on=> You will reckon on {pg 174}
connivence=> connivance {pg 176}
extraordinay excitement=> extraordinary excitement {pg 182}
an in an hour=> and in an hour {pg 183}
the wierd old man=> the weird old man {pg 185}
my craftmanship=> my craftsmanship {pg 186}
my Palsamo=> my Balsamo {pg 189}
parties name in the documents=> parties named in the documents {pg 192}
Venitian mirror=> Venetian mirror {pg 196}
everbody will tell=> everybody will tell {pg 215}
in the same room with your=> in the same room with you {pg 227}
Aftert he=> After the {pg 227}
you have pleged=> you have pledged {pg 232}
proprieter=> proprietor {pg 233}
he had climed down=> he had climbed down {pg 236}
abroad the ship=> aboard the ship {pg 239}
well attack great importance=> well attach great importance {pg 244}
did not wish to be instrusive=> did not wish to be intrusive {pg 246}
Philip took a gun and amunition=> Philip took a gun and ammunition {pg
247}
witholding=> withholding {pg 247}
End of Project Gutenberg's The Mesmerist's Victim, by Alexandre Dumas