have here to deal.
We have to save a soul. I have done my duty, and filial tenderness will
at any rate bear the blame."

The King thereupon acceded to the churchman's wishes, who lost no time in
acquainting the patient with her doom.

Anne of Austria was grievously shocked at so terrible an announcement,
but she soon recovered her resignation and her courage; and M. d' Auch
made noble use of his eloquence when exhorting her to prepare for the
change that she dreaded.

A portable altar was put up in the room, and the Archbishop, assisted by
other clerics, went to fetch the Holy Sacrament from the church of Saint
Germain de l'Auxerrois in the Louvre parish.

The princes and princesses hereupon began to argue in the little closet
as to the proper ceremony to be observed on such occasions. Madame de
Motteville, lady-in-waiting to the Queen, being asked to give an opinion,
replied that, for the late King, the nobles had gone out to meet the Holy
Sacrament as far as the outer gate of the palace, and that it would be
wise to do this on the present occasion.

Mademoiselle de Montpensier interrupted the lady-in-waiting and those who
shared her opinion. "I cannot bring myself to establish such a
precedent," she said, in her usual haughty tone. "It is I who have to
walk first, and I shall only go half-way across the courtyard of the
Louvre. It's quite far enough for the Holy Wafer-box; what's the use of
walking any further for the Holy Sacrament?"

The princes and princesses were of her way of thinking, and the
procession advanced only to the limits aforesaid.

When the time came for taking the Sacred Heart to Val-de-Grace with the
funeral procession, Mademoiselle, in a long mourning cloak, said to the
Archbishop before everybody, "Pray, monsieur, put the Sacred Heart in the
best place, and sit you close beside it. I yield my rank up to you on
the present occasion." And, as the prelate protested, she added, "I
shall be very willing to ride in front on account of the malady from
which she died." And, without altering her resolution, she actually took
her seat in front.

CHAPTER VIII.

Cardinal Mazarin.--Regency of Anne of Austria.--Her Perseverance in
Retaining Her Minister.--Mazarin Gives His Nieces in Marriage.--M. de la
Meilleraye.--The Cardinal's Festivities.--Madame de Montespan's Luck at a
Lottery.

Before taking holy orders, Cardinal Mazarin had served as an officer in
the Spanish army, where he