ng himself to have been
ill-used by the Court, he had from mortified vanity adopted the
interests of M. de Biron, and even participated in the conspiracy of
which he was now anxious to anticipate the effects, and from which he
had instantly retired when he discovered that it involved the lives of
his Majesty and the Dauphin.

He then solemnly asserted that when the Marechal de Biron proceeded to
Flanders to receive the oath of peace from the Archduke Albert, the
Spaniards, who at once detected the extent of his vanity and ambition,
had flattered his weakness and encouraged his hopes; and that they had
ultimately despatched to him an individual named Picote, who for some
crime had been exiled from Orleans, and who was authorized to give him
the assurance that it only depended upon the Duke himself to secure a
brilliant position through their agency, should he see fit to become
their ally. The Marechal, his associate went on to say, listened eagerly
to the proposition, and expressed his willingness to treat with Spain
whenever it might be deemed expedient to confide to him the real meaning
of the message; a reply which satisfied the Spaniards that with proper
caution they should find it no difficult undertaking to attach him
entirely to their interests, or, failing in this attempt, to rid
themselves of a dangerous adversary by rendering him the victim of his
own treason.

Elated by the brilliant prospect which thus opened upon him, Biron
gradually became less energetic in the service of his legitimate master;
and after the peace of Vervins, finding his influence necessarily
diminished, he began to murmur, affecting to believe that the services
which he had rendered to the sovereign had not been duly recognized; and
it was at this period, according to his betrayer, that their
acquaintance had commenced, an acquaintance which so rapidly ripened
into friendship that ere long he became the depository of his patron's
most cherished secrets.

After many and anxious consultations, principally caused by the
uncertainty of the Duke as to the nature of the honours which were to be
conferred upon him, it had been at length resolved between the two
conspirators that they should despatch a priest to the Duke of Savoy, a
monk of Citeaux to Milan, and Picote himself to Spain, to treat with the
several Princes in the name of the Marechal; and what was even more
essential to the monarch to ascertain, was the fact that a short time
sub