my request, I told them
that my brother Alencon and the King my husband had an intention,
on the very next day, of joining some Huguenot troops, which
expected them, in order to fulfil the engagement they had made
upon the Admiral's death; and for this their intention, I begged
they might be excused, and that they might be prevented from
going away without any discovery being made that their designs
had been found out. All this was granted me, and measures were
so prudently taken to stay them, that they had not the least
suspicion that their intended evasion was known. Soon after, we
arrived at St. Germain, where we stayed some time, on account
of the King's indisposition. All this while my brother Alencon
used every means he could devise to ingratiate himself with me,
until at last I promised him my friendship, as I had before done
to my brother the King of Poland. As he had been brought up at a
distance from Court, we had hitherto known very little of each
other, and kept ourselves at a distance. Now that he had made
the first advances, in so respectful and affectionate a manner,
I resolved to receive him into a firm friendship, and to interest
myself in whatever concerned him, without prejudice, however,
to the interests of my good brother King Charles, whom I loved
more than any one besides, and who continued to entertain a great
regard for me, of which he gave me proofs as long as he lived.

Meanwhile King Charles was daily growing worse, and the Huguenots
constantly forming new plots. They were very desirous to get
my brother the Duc d'Alencon and the King my husband away from
Court. I got intelligence, from time to time, of their designs;
and, providentially, the Queen my mother defeated their intentions
when a day had been fixed on for the arrival of the Huguenot
troops at St. Germain. To avoid this visit, we set off the night
before for Paris, two hours after midnight, putting King Charles
in a litter, and the Queen my mother taking my brother and the
King my husband with her in her own carriage.

They did not experience on this occasion such mild treatment
as they had hitherto done, for the King going to the Wood of
Vincennes, they were not permitted to set foot out of the palace.
This misunderstanding was so far from being mitigated by time,
that the mistrust and discontent were continually increasing,
owing to the insinuations and bad advice offered to the King by
those who wished the ruin and downfall