Page:The Vicomte de Bragelonne 2.djvu/328

administered the last remedy. This was a relic of the old customs of that fencing time, which was about to disappear to give place to another time, to believe that death could be kept off by some good secret thrust. Mazarin, after having taken the remedy, respired freely for nearly ten minutes. He immediately gave orders that the news should be spread everywhere of a fortunate crisis. The king, on learning this, felt as if a cold sweat were passing over his brow: he had had a glimpse of the light of liberty; slavery appeared to him more dark and less acceptable than ever. Fut the bulletin which followed entirely changed the face of things. Mazarin could no longer breathe at all, and could scarcely follow the prayers which the curé of St. Nicholas des Champs recited near him. The king resumed his agitated walk about his chamber, and consulted, as he walked, several papers drawn from a casket of which he alone had the key. A third time the nurse returned. M. de Mazarin had just uttered a joke, and had ordered his "Flora." by Titian, to be revarnished. At length. toward two o'clock in the morning, the king could no longer resist. his weariness; he had not slept for twenty-four hours. Sleep, so powerful at his age, overcame him for about an hour. But he did not go to bed for that hour; he slept in a fauteuil. About four o'clock his nurse awoke him by entering the room.

"Well?" asked the king.

"Well, my dear sire," said the nurse, clasping her hands with an air of commiseration. "Well, he is dead!"

The king arose at a bound, as if a steel spring had been applied to his legs.

"Dead!" cried he.

"Alas! yes."

"Is it quite certain?"

"Yes."

"Official?"

"Yes."

"Has the news of it been made public?"

"Not yet."

"Who told you, then, that the cardinal was dead?"

"Monsieur Colbert."

"Monsieur Colbert?"

"Yes."

"And was he sure of what he said?"

"He came out of the chamber, and had held a glass for some minutes before the cardinal's lips."