in order to secure proper
assistance.[22] This was done with all speed, while as they passed
through the city the attendants replied to the inquiries which were made
on every side that the King was merely wounded; and on arriving at the
palace the body was stretched upon a bed, without having been cleansed
or clothed, and in this state it remained for several hours, exposed to
the gaze of all who thought proper to visit the chamber of death.[23]

During this time the Queen, fatigued by her previous exertions, was
lying upon a sofa in her private cabinet, in order to recruit her
strength against the evening, which was, as we have shown, to have been
one of gaiety and gala, when her affrighted attendants hastened to
convey to her the fatal tidings of her widowhood. In a paroxysm of
uncontrollable anguish she rushed towards the door of the closet, and
was about to make her way to the chamber in which the royal body had
been deposited, when she was met by the Chancellor, to whom the fearful
news had already been communicated, and who obstructed her passage.

"Let me pass, Sir," she faltered out, "the King is dead."

"Pardon me, Madame," said Sillery, still impeding her purpose, "the
Kings of France never die. Return, I implore of you, to your apartment.
Restrain your tears until you have insured your own safety and that of
your children; and instead of indulging in a grief which can avail you
nothing, exert all your energies to counteract the possible effects of
this disastrous and lamentable event."

M. de Vitry was immediately instructed to assemble all the royal
children in the same apartment, and not to permit any one, whatever
might be his rank or authority, to have access to them; an order which
was implicitly obeyed; and meanwhile six-and-twenty physicians and
surgeons, who had been hastily summoned to the palace, commenced opening
the corpse, which was discovered to be so universally healthy as to
promise a long life. The intestines were, according to the prescribed
custom, at once forwarded to St. Denis; while the Jesuits demanded the
heart, in order to convey it to their church of La Fleche; and it was no
sooner removed from the body, and placed in a silver basin, than it was
eagerly pressed to the lips of all the nobles who assisted at the
operation; each of those who carried away traces of the blood which
issued from it upon his moustachios, esteeming himself highly honoured
by the vestiges of the contact.[24