his bride proceeded from dislike. Louis was a
timid, though rough, youth at the time, and for a considerable
period treated the attractions which the courtiers so highly
extolled, with churlish indifference. The French king, indeed, did
his best to promote a better understanding, and when the reserve of
the dauphin once thawed, the latter became tenderly attached to her,
and greatly improved by her influence and society.

An interesting trait of this youthful pair is told, as occurring at
the moment when they might have been excused for entertaining other
and more selfish thoughts. They were expecting the intelligence of
the death of Louis XV. It had been agreed, as the disorder was one
frightfully contagious, that the court should depart immediately
upon learning it could be of no further assistance, and that a
lighted taper, placed in the window of the dying monarch's chamber,
should form a signal for the cavalcade to prepare for the journey.
The taper was extinguished; a tumult of voices and advancing feet
were heard in the outer apartment. "It was the crowd of courtiers
deserting the dead sovereign's ante-chamber, to come and bow to the
new power of Louis XVI." With a spontaneous impulse the dauphin and
his bride threw themselves upon their knees, and shedding a torrent
of tears, exclaimed, "O God! guide us, protect us; we are too young
to govern." Thus the Countess de Noailles found them as she entered,
the first to salute Marie Antoinette as Queen of France.

[Illustration: Marie Antoinette.]

For some time the young queen's liking for children was ungratified by
the possession of any of her own, and this gave rise to an amusing
attempt to adopt one belonging to others. One day, when she was
driving near Luciennes, a little peasant boy fell under the horses'
feet, and might have been killed. The queen took him to Versailles,
appointed him a nurse, and installed him in the royal apartments,
constantly seating him in her lap at breakfast and dinner. This child
afterward grew up a most sanguinary revolutionist! It was nine years
before Marie Antoinette had the blessing of any offspring; four
children were after that interval, born to her, two of whom died in
their infancy, and two survived to share their parent's subsequent
imprisonment. The sad history of her son's fate, a promising and
attractive boy, is well known.

We have seen the Austrian princess was no favorite with her
husband's nation. After a time acc