that he could not bring himself to afflict the Queen by informing her of
an event which grieved even him so much. His Majesty thought the Abbe de
Vermond, who had possessed the confidence of Maria Theresa during his stay
at Vienna, the most proper person to discharge this painful duty. He sent
his first valet de chambre, M. de Chamilly, to the Abbe on the evening of
the day he received the despatches from Vienna, to order him to come the
next day to the Queen before her breakfast hour, to acquit himself
discreetly of the afflicting commission with which he was charged, and to
let his Majesty know the moment of his entering the Queen's chamber. It
was the King's intention to be there precisely a quarter of an hour after
him, and he was punctual to his time; he was announced; the Abbe came out;
and his Majesty said to him, as he drew up at the door to let him pass, "I
thank you, Monsieur l'Abbe, for the service you have just done me." This
was the only time during nineteen years that the King spoke to him.

Within an hour after learning the event the Queen put on temporary
mourning, while waiting until her Court mourning should be ready; she kept
herself shut up in her apartments for several days; went out only to mass;
saw none but the royal family; and received none but the Princesse de
Lamballe and the Duchesse de Polignac. She talked incessantly of the
courage, the misfortunes, the successes, and the virtues of her mother.
The shroud and dress in which Maria Theresa was to be buried, made
entirely by her own hands, were found ready prepared in one of her
closets. She often regretted that the numerous duties of her august
mother had prevented her from watching in person over the education of her
daughters; and modestly said that she herself would have been more worthy
if she had had the good fortune to receive lessons directly from a
sovereign so enlightened and so deserving of admiration.

The Queen told me one day that her mother was left a widow at an age when