As the youthful mourner reached the death-couch, the kings-at-arms were about to present to him the aspergillus, in order that he might sprinkle the corpse with the consecrated water, when a movement among the nobles who stood near the entrance of the apartment caused them to pause; and in another moment a group of ladies, attired in deep mourning, appeared beneath the portico; where, separating into two ranks, they left a passage open for the widowed Queen; who, clad in violet velvet like her son, with a high ruff, and her head uncovered, advanced with an unsteady step and streaming eyes towards her children.

“Pray with me, my son,” she murmured amid her sobs as she stood beneath the mortuary canopy; “there lies your happiness and mine.  May it please God that our hopes may not also have expired with him who was but a few short hours ago the glory and the greatness of his kingdom!  The sturdy tree has fallen, and the saplings are still weak and frail.  The mission of the great Henry is accomplished, and the weight of sovereignty is transferred to your own brow.  And you also, my beloved ones,” she continued, glancing towards her younger sons, “come nearer to me, and let us kneel together beside the body of your august and lamented father.”

The two young Princes relaxed their hold of the royal mantle, and placed themselves beside their mother.  The illustrious widow and her orphans then sank upon their knees, and continued for a considerable time absorbed in silent and earnest prayer.  At intervals a sob which could not be controlled broke upon the stillness, but at length the mourners rose; and Marie, taking the hand of the boy-King, drew him towards her, and murmured in his ear a few hurried words which were inaudible to all save himself.  As she ceased speaking, Louis glanced up into her face for an instant; and then, extending his right hand towards the corpse, he said in a clear and steady voice—­

“Mother, I swear to do so.”

Even at that awful moment a strange light flashed from the eyes of the Queen, and a smile, which was almost one of triumph, played about her lips as she glanced at the assembled nobles; but the emotion, by whatever cause produced, was only momentary; and after having cast another long and agonized look upon the face of the dead monarch, and aspersed the body with holy water, she bent her head reverentially to the King, and withdrew, followed by her ladies.

When the whole of the royal party had paid this last mark of respect to the remains of the deceased sovereign, the coffin was finally closed; and the death-room, in which the corpse was to remain for the space of eighteen days, was opened to the public from ten o’clock in the morning until six in the evening.  Then, indeed, as the vast crowds succeeded each other like the ceaseless waves of an incoming sea, the bitter wail of universal lamentation rang through the halls and galleries of the palace.  Henri IV had been essentially the King of the People; and, with few and rare exceptions, it was by the people that he was truly mourned; for his sudden decease had opened so many arenas to ambition, hatred, jealousy, and hope, that the great nobles had no time to waste in tears, but were already busily engaged in the furtherance of their own fortunes.