in suppressed voices at the several altars, a distant sound was heard,
which gradually approaching nearer and nearer to the death-chamber,
became ere long blent with their murmured orisons; and as they looked
towards the entrance of the apartment, they saw the young King standing
upon the threshold, attended by a numerous suite of Princes and nobles.
Louis XIII was wrapped in a mourning cloak of violet-coloured velvet;
his vest was of dark silk; and his pale and melancholy face was
half-hidden by the hood which had been drawn over his head. The high
dignitaries who composed his retinue wore mantles of black velvet, and
were entirely without arms. The two younger sons of France, the Ducs
d'Orléans and d'Anjou, walked on either side of the new-made sovereign,
each grasping a fold of his heavy cloak; and immediately behind them
came the Cardinals de Joyeuse and de Sourdis. The Prince de Condé, the
Comte de Soissons, the Duc de Guise, the Prince de Joinville, and the
Duc d'Elboeuf bore the royal train; and were in their turn succeeded by
the prelates who assisted at the ceremony, each wearing his mitre, and
carrying his crozier. In the rear followed a crowd of nobles and great
officers of the household, who, however, advanced only a few yards from
the doorway, while Louis and his immediate attendants slowly approached
the bier. The scene was an affecting one: the boy-King, timid and
trembling, surrounded by the flower of his nation's chivalry and
greatness, moved with a faltering step towards the resting-place of that
father who had so lately wielded like a toy the sceptre which he was
himself still too impotent to bear, and whose bold spirit had been
quenched while it was yet strong within him. On every side the vanity of
human pride, which will not learn a lesson even under the stern teaching
of death, was contrasted with the awe that sat upon the faces of the
assistants, and with the immobility of the livid countenance which
gleamed out pale and ghastly from amid its glittering drapery!