Very much astonished at this revengefulness, for which there was no reason, Monsieur de Létorière, without declining the challenge, declared that having ridden post from Vienna to see the king, his master, for the last time, who was said to be dying, he could consent to fight only after having fulfilled this sacred duty. The bravery of the Marquis was so well known, that his proposition could not be rejected. It was settled that when he was ready for the meeting, the seconds should inform Monsieur d'Ugeon. After begging Dominique to go to the Abbey of Montmartre, and carry a letter from him to the princess Julie, the Marquis started for Versailles. Louis XV. was dying with the confluent small-pox. This terrible malady, so rapidly contagious, and which left such frightful traces, had caused great alarm in the court. Létorière found the small rooms occupied by the dying king almost deserted. The panic was much greater, as vaccination was not then known. Even the officers on duty were hardly to be found at their posts. Louis XV. had strictly forbidden the dauphin and the other princes and princesses to enter his apartment, for fear of exposing the royal family to the fatal contagion. The Viscount of T***, one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber, then on duty, was in the room next to that of the king, when Létorière arrived, pale and agitated. The Marquis, forgetting court etiquette in this dreadful moment, was about to raise the curtain of the king's chamber, when the viscount hurriedly advanced, and said in a low voice, laying his hand upon the Marquis's arm: "Stop, sir, you have not the _entrée_ to his majesty's chamber." "It is said, sir, that the king is almost deserted by his attendants; they fear contagion. . . . If it be true that death reigns in this chamber, one can brave all etiquette to enter it," said Létorière, bitterly, and he made a movement to enter. "Once more, you cannot go into the presence of his majesty, sir," replied the Viscount T***. "I am not sure that he will consent to receive you." "Go, then, and ask him, sir; the king will not refuse the services of one whom he has always loaded with favors." The proposition to enter the king's chamber seemed to frighten Monsieur T***, who haughtily answered the Marquis, still in a low voice: "I receive orders only from the first gentleman-in-waiting, sir." At that instant a feeble voice, well known to both who heard it, asked: "Who is there? Who is speaking in whispers?" "It is the king! . . . He has heard you, sir. You are responsible for the consequences of this," said Monsieur T***; and he replied aloud: "Will his majesty deign to excuse me if I answer him without entering? but I only execute his formal orders. The person who is here, Sire, is . . ." "'Tis Létorière, who supplicates the king to be permitted to approach him," said the marquis aloud, interrupting M. T***.