Angouleme, the Duchess of Berry, the Duke and the Duchess of
Orleans, the Bishop of Hermopolis, and the physicians were in the
chamber of the dying man. When the King had given up the ghost,
the Duke of Angouleme, who became Dauphin, threw himself at the
feet of his father, who became King, and kissed his hand with
respectful tenderness. The princes and princesses followed this
example, and he who bore thenceforward the title of Charles X.,
sobbing, embraced them all. They knelt about the bed. The De
Profundis was recited. Then the new King sprinkled holy water on
the body of his brother and kissed the icy hand. An instant later
M. de Blacas, opening the door of the Gallery of Diana, called
out: "Gentlemen, the King!" And Charles X. appeared.

Let us listen to the Duchess of Orleans. "At these words, in the
twinkling of an eye, all the crowd of courtiers deserted the
Gallery to surround and follow the new King. It was like a
torrent. We were borne along by it, and only at the door of the
Hall of the Throne, my husband bethought himself that we no longer
had aught to do there. We returned home, reflecting much on the
feebleness of our poor humanity, and the nothingness of the things
of this world."

Marshal Marmont, who was in the Gallery of Diana at the moment of
the King's death, was much struck by the two phrases pronounced at
an instant's interval by M. de Damas: "Gentlemen, the King is
dead! The King, gentlemen!"

He wrote in his Memoirs: "It is difficult to describe the
sensation produced by this double announcement in so brief a time.
The new sovereign was surrounded by his officers, and everything