me, I
shall not marry again, for I shall follow you to the grave in a week."

This happened exactly as he said it would; for, on the seventh day after
his wife's death, he died also. This is not a fiction, but perfectly
true.

While the Dauphine was in good health and spirits she often said, "I must
enjoy myself now. I shall not be able to do so long, for I shall die
this year."

I thought it was only a joke, but it turned out to be too true. When she
fell sick she said she should never recover.

SECTION XVI.--PETITE MADAME.

A cautery which had been improperly made in the nape of the neck had
drawn her mouth all on one side, so that it was almost entirely in her
left cheek. For this reason talking was very painful to her, and she
said very little. It was necessary to be accustomed to her way of
speaking to understand her. Just when she was about to die her mouth
resumed its proper place, and she did not seem at all ugly. I was
present at her death. She did not say a word to her father, although a
convulsion had restored her mouth. The King, who had a good heart and
was very fond of his children, wept excessively and made me weep also.
The Queen was not present, for, being pregnant, they would not let her
come.

It is totally false that the Queen was delivered of a black child. The
late Monsieur, who was present, said that the young Princess was ugly,
but not black. The people cannot be persuaded that the child is not still
alive, and say that it is in a convent at Moret, near Fontainebleau. It
is, however, quite certain that the ugly child is dead, for all the Court
saw it die.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

Always has a fictitious malady in reserve
I had a mind, he said, to commit one sin, but not two
I wished the husband not to be informed of it
Old Maintenon
Provided they are talked of, they are satisfied
That what he called love was mere debauchery

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Regency, Book II., by Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans

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