which he was come.

At this declaration, the consequences of which he plainly foresaw, the
duc de Duras hesitated to reply, scarcely knowing how to ward off a
blow the responsibility of which must fall upon him alone. The duc
de Richelieu, with greater self-command, extricated him from his
difficulty.

"Sir," said he to the abbe, "your zeal is highly praise-worthy, both
the duke and myself are aware of all that should be done upon such an
occasion as the present; and although I freely admit that the sacred act
you speak of is of an imperative nature, yet I would observe, that the
king being still in ignorance of his fatal malady, neither your duties
nor ours can begin, until the moment when the physicians shall have
thought proper to reveal the whole truth to his majesty. This is a
matter of form and etiquette to which all must submit who have any
functions to fulfil in the chateau."

The duc de Duras could have hugged his colleague for this well-timed
reply. The abbe Mandaux felt all the justness of the observation, yet
with all the tenacity of his profession, he replied,

"That since it rested with the physicians to apprize the king of his
being ill with the small-pox, they ought to be summoned and consulted as
to the part to take."

At these words the duc de Duras slipped away from the group, and went
himself in search of Doctor Bordeu, whom he brought into an angle of
the chamber out of sight of the king's bed. The duc de Duras having
explained to him what the abbe had just been saying to them, as well as
the desire he had manifested of preparing the king to receive the last
sacraments, the doctor regarded the abbe fixedly for some instance, a
n a severe tone, "Whether he had promised any person to murder the
king?"

This abrupt and alarming question made the priest change colour, whilst
he asked for an explanation of such a singular charge.

"I say, sir," replied Bordeu, "that whoever speaks at present to his
majesty of small-pox, confession, or extreme unction, will have to
answer for his life."

"Do you, indeed, believe," asked the duc de Richelieu, "that the mention
of these things would produce so fatal a result?"

"Most assuredly I do; and out of one hundred sick persons it would have
the same effect upon sixty, perhaps eighty; indeed, I have known the
shock produce instantaneous death. This I am willing to sign with my
own blood if it be necessary, and my professional brother there will not
dispu