For some time past Condé’s health had been such as to occasion grave anxiety; his attacks of gout were becoming more frequent and more severe, and he was often so feeble that he was unable to walk without assistance. When, at the end of May, 1686, although in great pain, he insisted on coming to Versailles to attend a Chapter of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit, at which the _cordon bleu_ was to be bestowed on the Duc de Bourbon and the Prince de Conti, the fatigue which the journey and the ceremony entailed exhausted him to such a degree that, according to Sourches, those present “expected every moment to see him die.” Towards the middle of the following November, news reached Chantilly that the little Duchesse de Bourbon had been taken seriously ill with small-pox at Fontainebleau, where the Court was then in residence. Notwithstanding that he was again suffering from the gout, _Monsieur le Prince_ at once ordered his coach and set off for Fontainebleau. On the road he met the Duc de Bourbon and his eldest sister, Mlle. de Condé, whom the King had sent to Paris, so that they should not be exposed to the contagion. Alarmed at their grandfather’s appearance, they endeavoured to persuade him to turn back, but he insisted on continuing the journey. Arrived at Fontainebleau, he shut himself up with the Duchesse de Bourbon and “rendered her all the cares not only of a tender father, but of a zealous guardian.”[239] The girl, however, grew worse, and Louis XIV., on learning of his daughter’s danger, wished to come and see her. “_Monsieur le Prince_,” writes Madame de Caylus, “placed himself at the door to prevent him entering, and there ensued a great struggle between parental love and the zeal of a courtier, very glorious for _Madame la Duchesse_.” The writer adds that the King, being the stronger, went in, notwithstanding Condé’s resistance, but, according to other chroniclers, his Majesty was so touched by his cousin’s zeal for his safety that he ended by allowing him to have his way.