ession in frightful imprecations
and words expressive of utter despair.[1390]

With the growing certainty of his approaching death, the mental distress
of Charles proportionately increased. His old Huguenot nurse, to whom he
talked without reserve, was the witness of the startling conflict through
which he was passing in his last hours. While sitting near his bedside on
one occasion, she was suddenly recalled from a revery by the sound of the
sighs and sobs of the royal patient. To her solicitous questions as to the
cause of his distress, she received the most piteous exclamations,
interrupted by weeping: "Ah, my nurse, my friend, how much blood! how many
murders! Ah, what wicked counsels have I had! My God, have pity upon me
and pardon me! I know not where I am; so perplexed and agitated have they
made me. What will become of me? What shall I do? I am lost; I know it
full well." The pious attendant's earnest exhortations and consoling words
had little effect in dispelling the gloom that had settled on the
termination of a life so auspiciously begun. She might pray, in his
hearing, that the blood of the murdered Huguenots might be on the heads of
those who gave the young king such treacherous advice. She might encourage
and urge him to rest in the confidence that, in view of his penitence, God
would not impute to him his crime, but cover him with the mantle of
Christ's righteousness.[1391] Her words had little power to dissipate his
extreme despondency.

[Sidenote: Distress of his young queen.]

For months the life of Charles had been despaired of. Now he was visibly
dying. The news of the capture of Montgomery, which his mother came to
announce to him with a delight she neither was able nor anxious to hide,
brought him no pleasure. He had, he said, ceased to care for these things.
Meanwhile, Catharine, if not altogether devoid of natural affection--if
not experiencing unmingled satisfaction at the prospect that the sceptre
was likely to pass into the hands of her favorite son, the King of
Poland--at least took care to provide for the contingency of Charles's
speedy death, by obtaining, on the twenty-ninth of May, letters to the
governors of provinces, and the next day the more authoritative letters
patent conferring upon her the regency until the return of Henry from
Poland.[1392] More sincere in her sorrow, the young Queen Elizabeth,
Charles's wife, endeavored to ward off the stroke of Heaven by solemn
processions.