There was a great deal of inquiry as to whether the Queen would receive the sacrament, “some fools,” according to Lord Hervey, “said the Queen had not religion enough to ask to receive the sacrament.”
The Archbishop maintained a discreet silence on the point, when asked as he came from the sick chamber:
“Has the Queen received?” he parried the question by replying: “Gentlemen, Her Majesty is in a most heavenly frame of mind.”
But that the visit of the Archbishop had resulted in any reconciliation between the Queen and the Prince of Wales, there is not a trace of evidence, indeed the testimony is all the other way. She could not bear at this time to think that even the gentlemen of his household were in her ante-room, and at last had it cleared of all strangers.
“Will nobody turn these ravens out of the house!” she cried, “who are only there to watch my death, and would gladly tear me to pieces whilst I am alive!”
No, there was, unhappily, no forgiveness nor wish for reconciliation there.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday passed in much the same way as the preceding sad days except that the Queen grew steadily weaker. The King distinguished himself by a mixture of brutality and tenderness towards the dying woman. He scarcely ever left her room, night or day, except when the Archbishop came to offer spiritual consolation.
“How the devil should you sleep when you will never lie still a moment!” he exclaimed on one occasion, when her continual shifting in bed, owing to her ailment and her wound, worried him. But he was equally annoyed when she would lie quite still; looking straight before her as sick persons will at nothing: “Mon Dieu!” he exclaimed irritably, exasperated at her quietness. “What are you looking at? What makes you fix your eyes like that? Your eyes look like a calf’s when it is going to have its throat cut!”
All this, of course, was very suitable to the decorum of the death-bed of a Queen, but perhaps after all the little man was worn out with the continuous watching.
Then came Sunday, and each hour the Queen grew weaker, so that it came to be a wonder that she had survived the last; but she lingered on until the evening, and then asked Dr. Tesier, her physician: