e, and he treated me with as much care
as if I had been a child. We did the journey by easy stages, and I at
length found myself back in my old rooms.

The surgeon whom Pillot now called in gave me small hope of a speedy
recovery, and as a matter of fact I did not leave the house till the
beginning of the new year. Before that time, however, many changes
occurred. Conde marched south with his troops and the Court returned
to Paris. This was a pleasant change, as John Humphreys was once more
at the Louvre, and hardly a day passed without his spending an hour or
so with me.

Naturally, he brought all the news; so that I could easily follow the
course of events. Day by day the Royal power increased; the people
were becoming fond of their youthful monarch, and Turenne was more than
holding his own against the rebels.

"Faith!" exclaimed Humphreys, one evening towards the close of the
year, "it looks as if that Cardinal of yours were going to win, after
all. He is back in France with an army, and is hurrying to meet the
Marshal!"

"He will be in Paris before long," said I laughing, "and then we shall
see a sight."

Every day now brought news of some fresh success, and much of the glory
fell to the share of Mazarin. People began to talk of him as a great
general, and to compare him, as a soldier, with Conde and Turenne.
This was, of course, very absurd, but the talk increased the Cardinal's
popularity.

At the beginning of the new year, 1653, my leg was so much stronger
that I was able to go out, and every day I walked a little distance in
the streets, accompanied by Pillot. I could not ride as yet, but even
that I was able to manage by the time Mazarin returned to Paris.

Yes, the great struggle was over, and, as I had foreseen in the
beginning, the _Frondeurs_ had been smitten hip and thigh. Conde,
overshadowed by the genius of Turenne, was a fugitive; Gaston of
Orleans, who ever blew hot and cold in one breath, had left the capital
in disgrace; the parliament men had been brought to their knees; and
that sturdy rogue, De Retz, having lost all his power, was openly
arrested and imprisoned at Vincennes.

But the crowning triumph was the return, on 2nd February, of my early
patron to the city which had hounded him out with hoots and jeers and
savage threats of death. The streets were gaily decorated, and the
citizens, apparently all of one mind, held high holiday in favour of
the recalled exile.

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