th taking too much pleasure, Father Coussin, her
confessor, who was also the king's, sought to quiet her conscience; he
hoped much from the influence she could exercise over the king; but
Mdlle. de La Fayette, feeling herself troubled and perplexed, was urgent.
When the Jesuit reported to Louis XIII. the state of his fair young
friend's feelings, the king, with tears in his eyes, replied, "Though I
am very sorry she is going away, nevertheless I have no desire to be an
obstacle to her vocation; only let her wait until I have left for the
army." She did not wait, however. Their last interview took place at
the queen's, who had no liking for Mdlle. de La Fayette; and, as the
king's carriage went out of the court-yard, the young girl, leaning
against the window, turned to one of her companions and said, "Alas! I
shall never see him again!" But she did see him again often for some
time. He went to see her in her convent, and "remained so long glued to
her grating," says Madame de Motteville, that Cardinal Richelieu, falling
a prey to fresh terrors, recommenced his intrigues to tear him from her
entirely. And he succeeded." The king's affection for Mdlle.
d'Hautefort awoke again. She had just rendered the queen an important
service. Anne of Austria was secretly corresponding with her two
brothers, King Philip IV. and the Cardinal Infante, a correspondence
which might well make the king and his minister uneasy, since it was
carried on through Madame de Chevreuse, and there was war at the time
with Spain. The queen employed for this intercourse a valet named
Laporte, who was arrested and thrown into prison. The chancellor removed
to Val-de-Grace, whither the queen frequently retired; he questioned the
nuns and rummaged Anne of Austria's cell. She was in mortal anxiety, not
knowing what Laporte might say or how to unloose his tongue, so as to
keep due pace with her own confessions to the king and the cardinal.
Mdlle. d'Hautefort disguised herself as a servant, went straight to the
Bastille, and got a letter delivered to Laporte, thanks to the agency of
Commander de Jars, her friend, then in prison. The confessions of
mistress and agent being thus set in accord, the queen obtained her
pardon, but not without having to put up with reproaches and conditions
of stern supervision. Madame de Chevreuse took fright, and went to seek
refuge in Spain. The king's inclination towards Mdlle. d'Hautefort
revived, without her havi