one in the evening
For some time past suffering most acutely , and losing both her youth and beauty with that rapidity which signalizes the decline of women for whom life has been a long contest , Anne of Austria had , in addition to her physical sufferings , to experience the bitterness of being no longer held in any esteem , except as a living remembrance of the past , amid the youthful beauties , wits , and influences of her court . Her physician 's opinions , her mirror also , grieved her far less than the inexorable warnings which the society of the courtiers afforded , who , like the rats in a ship , abandon the hold in which the water is on the point of penetrating , owing to the ravages of decay . Anne of Austria did not feel satisfied with the time her eldest son devoted to her . The king , a good son , more from affectation than from affection , had at first been in the habit of passing an hour in the morning and one in the evening with his mother ; but , since he had himself undertaken the conduct of state affairs , the duration of the morning and evening 's visit had been reduced to half ; and then , by degrees , the morning visit had been suppressed altogether . They met at mass ; the evening visit was replaced by a meeting , either at the king 's assembly , or at Madame 's , which the queen attended obligingly enough , out of regard to her two sons . The result was that Madame had acquired an immense influence over the court , which made her apartments the true royal place of meeting . This , Anne of Austria had perceived ; feeling herself to be suffering , and condemned by her sufferings to frequent retirement , she was distressed at the idea that the greater part of her future days and evenings would pass away solitary , useless , and in despondency .