He said of her, "Warm is her heart, and knit with tenderest ties To those she loves, and, elsewise, otherwise; For such a sprite, whose birthplace is the skies, Of manly beauty blent with woman's grace, No mortal pen, though fain, can fitly trace." "I have only kept by me," she would say, "my three pets (_animaux_): my dog, my cat, and La Fontaine." When she died, M.and Madame d'Hervart received into their house the now old and somewhat isolated poet.

As D'Hervart was on his way to go and make the proposal to La Fontaine, he met him in the street.

"I was coming to ask you to put up at our house," said he.

"I was just going thither," answered Fontaine with the most touching confidence.

There he remained to his death, contenting himself with going now and then to Chateau-Thierry, as long as his wife lived, to sell, with her consent, some strip of ground.