inquiry as to what he
desired of her, she received by her messenger the heartless reply that
she might send him a good stock of cheese and mustard, and that she need
not trouble herself about anything else.[266]

The intercepted letters of the Comte d'Auvergne having also implicated
his stepfather M. d'Entragues, and his sister Madame de Verneuil, both
were subsequently arrested; the former by the Provost Defunctis[267] in
his castle of Marcoussis, and the latter at her residence in the
Faubourg St. Germain; while her children were taken from her, and sent,
under a proper escort, to the palace of St. Germain-en-Laye. So
important did it, moreover, appear to the French ministers to ascertain
the exact extent of the conspiracy, that the Provost was accompanied to
Marcoussis by M. de Lomenie, in order that a search might be instituted
upon the premises; the result of which tended to prove, beyond all
possibility of doubt, that the original engagement delivered by the
father of the Marquise to the sovereign had, in fact, not been restored,
but had been skilfully copied by some able pen; while the importance
which was still attached to the real document by the family of Madame de
Verneuil may be gathered from the fact that it was discovered by the
Secretary of State in a glass bottle, carefully sealed and enclosed
within a second, which was laid upon a heap of cotton and built up in a
wall of one of the apartments. Nor was this the only object of
importance found in the possession of M. d'Entragues; as, together with
the promise of marriage which he had professed to restore to the King,
M. de Lomenie likewise discovered, secreted with equal care, sundry
letters, the treaty between Philip of Spain and the conspirators, and
the cypher which had been employed in their correspondence.[268]

From these documents it was ascertained that the King of Spain had
stipulated on oath that, on the condition of Madame de Verneuil
confiding her son to his guardianship, he should be immediately
recognized as Dauphin of France, and heir to the throne of that kingdom;
while five fortresses in the territory of Portugal should be placed at
his disposal, and subjected to his authority, as places of refuge should
such a precaution become necessary. A similar provision was, moreover,
made for the Marquise herself; and an income amounting to twenty
thousand pounds English was also promised to the quasi-Prince for the
support of his household.

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