In the first place, I must tell you that nothing could have saved my mother.  No doctor in the world could have restored her to health.  It was the manifest will of God; her time was come, and God chose to take her to Himself.  You think she put off being bled too long? it may be so, as she did delay it for a little, but I rather agree with the people here, who dissuaded her from being bled at all.  The cause of my mother’s illness was internal inflammation.  After being bled she rallied for some days, but on the 19th she complained of headache, and for the first time stayed in bed the whole day.  On the 20th she was seized first with shivering and then with fever, so I gave her an anti-spasmodic powder.  I was at that time very anxious to send for another doctor, but she would not allow me to do so, and when I urged her very strongly, she told me that she had no confidence in any French medical man.  I therefore looked about for a German one.  I could not, of course, go out and leave her, but I anxiously waited for M. Heina, who came regularly every day to see us; but on this occasion two days passed without his appearing.  At last he came, but as our doctor was prevented paying his usual visit next day, we could not consult with him; in fact, he did not come till the 24th.  The previous day, when I had been expecting him so eagerly, I was in great trouble, for my mother suddenly lost her sense of hearing.  The doctor, an old German about seventy, gave her rhubarb in wine.  I could not understand this, as wine is usually thought heating; but when I said so, every one exclaimed, “How can you say so?  Wine is not heating, but strengthening; water is heating.”  And all the time the poor invalid was longing for a drink of fresh water.  How gladly would I have complied with her wish!  My dear father, you cannot conceive what I went through, but nothing could be done, except to leave her in the hands of the physician.  All that I could do with a good conscience, was to pray to God without ceasing, that He would order all things for her good.  I went about as if I had altogether lost my head.  I had ample leisure then to compose, but I was in such a state that I could not have written a single note.  The 25th the doctor did not come; on the 26th he visited her again.  Imagine my feelings when he all at once said to me, “I fear she will scarcely live through the night; she may die at any moment.  You had better see that she receives the sacrament.”  So I hurried off to the end of the Chaussee d’Antin, and went on beyond the Barriere to find Heina, knowing that he was at a concert in the house of some count.  He said that he would bring a German priest with him next morning.  On my way back I looked in on Madame d’Epinay and M. Grimm for a moment as I passed.  They were distressed that I had not spoken sooner, as they would at once have sent their doctor.  I did not tell them my reason, which was, that my mother would not see a French doctor.  I was hard put to it, as