"Care is powerless,—I feel it; thus it is frightful for me to think that I have, perhaps, uselessly compromised your life . . . but now it is too late. Your imprudence . . . no, no, . . . your generous devotion has rendered all regret vain. . . . But tell me, I have heard with joy of the gaining of your lawsuit. Now, nothing can prevent your marriage with the princess Julie. . . . Oh! I have had to break many lances for you against the Maréchale and against the House of Savoy," he added, with a kind smile. "I have been obliged to use all my authority to prevent them from shutting up Mademoiselle de Soissons in the convent of Montmartre."
"Ah! Sire, what goodness! you deign to think . . ."
"It is now or never; to-morrow, perhaps, it will be too late. . . . My only fear is, that when I am gone the princess Julie will not find a friend in my grandson. . . . But if God spares me a few days, I will advise her; it will be sweet to me to leave you as happy as you deserve to be, my dear child." . . .
* * * * * * *
The illness of the king made rapid and frightful progress. Létorière did not quit him for a moment. It would be impossible to tell with what tender, respectful, and touching cares he surrounded the dying monarch. The sight of the Marquis seemed to calm the pains of Louis XV. Several times he offered him his hand in silence, with a sweet expression of gratitude. Soon all hope of saving the prince vanished, and Létorière stood with fixed and mournful eyes at the moment of death, the end of the sovereign who had shown for him all the affection of a father. . . .
[CHAPTER XIX]
THE DUEL
After the death of Louis XV., the Marquis of Létorière quitted Versailles in order to return with all speed to Paris, and to the convent of Montmartre, in order to see the princess Julie. Feeling, on the road, alternate chills and fever, he attributed his indisposition to the painful emotions which had recently agitated him. As soon as he arrived, he questioned Dominique about the princess. The dying Louis XV. had only too clearly foreseen the future. A provost-guard was established in the abbey, by order of Louis XVI., to prevent Mlle. de Soissons from going out or receiving persons who were not furnished with the permission of Madame Soubise. So Dominique had not been able to see the princess, or to deliver to her the Marquis's letters.
This news fell like a thunderbolt on Létorière. He doubtless trusted much to the firmness of Mlle. de Soissons; but he also knew the immense power of the House of Savoy, and of Madame Soubise's influence in the new court. He was plunged in the bitterness of these reflections, when the seconds of the Baron of Ugeon came to inquire when it would suit him to appoint a time for the promised encounter. It seemed cruel to the Marquis to run the risk of a duel before seeing the princess Julie; but he had already asked for delay, and he could not beg it a second time. He agreed, therefore, to appear with his seconds at three o'clock the next day, behind the walls of the Mathurins farm-house, then a very isolated spot.
The Marquis had thirty-six hours before him; in this time he hoped to find means to obtain an interview with, or at least to convey a letter to Mlle. de Soissons.