Madame Tussaud's Apprentice by Kathleen Benner Duble

Madame Tussaud's Apprentice by Kathleen Benner Duble

Author:Kathleen Benner Duble
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: F+W Media


Chapter Ten

Not a week later, the heir to the throne, young Louis-Joseph, in his illness takes a turn for the worse. Doctors come and go, and all court entertainments are canceled. A hush settles in the hallways. Everyone walks about with serious faces.

And then, the unthinkable happens—the young prince dies.

I hear the news and immediately remember Jacques as my mother held him and he took his last breath. But Jacques had no one to stop his starving. It seems inconceivable to me that even with all their wealth and doctors and medicine, the king and queen could not save their little boy. And I realize that Madame Élisabeth was right. Even royals cannot escape death.

The court goes immediately into mourning, draping the halls with black, covering all their mirrors. Versailles becomes a prison of sadness. All signs of excesses and lavishness are banished. The courtiers are like deflated balloons. Everyone is gloomy and sad and worried.

The few glimpses I have of the king and the queen show two people who seem to have aged overnight. The queen is no longer the laughing, vibrant young woman I saw weeks earlier.

Their grief touches me, and I am surprised by this. And yet, they are human and I realize that in loss, we are all the same. I wonder how the king’s starving subjects feel. Are they also in mourning? Or is their anger against their king so strong that they will find no sympathy for his loss?

Madame Élisabeth slips into despondency, canceling her drawing lessons and spending much time praying. I think about the other son, the eight-year-old boy who now is next in line to be king. In spite of our present king’s ineffectiveness at ruling, I pray that nothing will happen to him. The country is in a bad enough condition without having to worry about an eight-year-old becoming ruler.

On our way back to our rooms one evening during these weeks of grieving, Manon says she is not feeling well, and that she wants to lie down.

“Is there something bothering you?” I ask, for I have noticed her pacing all day.

Manon’s eyes slip from mine. “It’s nothing. I just don’t feel right. I will get some sleep tonight, and I am sure I will be fine in the morning.”

I worry that perhaps Manon has caught the same illness that has killed the young prince. A flutter of concern enters my mind. I look closely at her, but she avoids my scrutiny by turning her back on me and closing the door to her room firmly behind her.

I stand in the hallway, concerned. But then my eyes light on a new lock on one of the doors. I wonder how the king has found the time or energy to do this while dealing with his sorrow. It angers me that he would play with locks only weeks after his son’s death. Is he that callous?

I sigh. Perhaps I will be the one to fall ill from lack of sleep. For surely the king deserves to have his work undone tonight.



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