When the heart of the deceased King arrived at the con-
vent, the Queen was not informed of the circumstance ; but
she perhaps divined it, for she was in a continual agitation of
uneasiness and pain, for which, she said, she could not ac-
count to herself. There was no lack of spiritual comforters
at hand ; and one of them, who visited her on the following
day, the Cardinal de NoaiUes, declared that he " had never
seen a more piercing sorrow, nor a greater virtue."

She was on the point of leaving the convent, at the end of
the third day, when she suddenly stopped, declared that she
felt a conviction that the heart of her husband was under
the roof, and then passionately entreated that she might be
brought to the spot where it was deposited. The nuns ac-
knowledged the presence of the sacred deposit ; but they
pleaded royal and ecclesiastical commands to keep the fact
secret from her, and they implored, in their turn, that she
would make " the sacrifice to our Saviour, to deny herself in
this, that it would be very acceptable to him." But Mary
replied, that she did not believe that God required such sa-
crifice at her hands ; " I will only pay it my respects," she
said, " offer up my prayers, and retire."

The sisters could not withstand such natural entreaty.
144i MONABCHS BETIBED PBOM BUS07ESS.
They conducted her to the chapel of St. Francis de Sales.
