riends of Madame de
Longueville, and, the truth being well established, burned them in the
presence of the Queen, delivering Maulevrier and Madame de Fouquerolles
from the terrible anxiety into which they had been for some time thrown.

The house of Conde felt a lively resentment at the insult offered to it.
The Duke and Duchess de Longueville desired, it is true, the one by a
sentiment of interested prudence, the other by a just feeling of
dignity, to take no further notice of the matter. But the Princess,
impelled by her high spirit, and still intoxicated by her son's success,
exacted a reparation equal to the offence, and declared loudly that, if
the Queen and the government did not defend the honour of her house, she
and all her family would withdraw from the Court. She was indignant at
the mere idea of placing her daughter in the scales with the
granddaughter of a cook. In vain did the whole party of the
_Importants_, with Beaufort and Guise at their head, agitate and
threaten; in vain did Madame de Chevreuse, who had not yet lost all her
influence with the Queen, strive earnestly in behalf of her
mother-in-law. It did not suffice for the resentment of the Princess and
the Duke d'Enghien that Madame de Longueville's innocence was fully
recognised; they demanded a public reparation. Madame de Motteville has
left us an amusing recital of the "mummeries," as she terms them, of
which she was a witness.

The Queen was in her state cabinet and the Princess beside her, in great
emotion and looking very fierce, declaring the affair to be nothing less
than the crime of high treason. Madame de Chevreuse, interested for a
thousand reasons in the quarrel of her mother-in-law, was busy with
Cardinal Mazarin arranging the composition of the apology to be made. At
every word there was a _pour-parler_ of half an hour. The Cardinal went
from one side to the other to accommodate the difference, as if such a
peace was necessary for the welfare of France, and his own in
particular. It was arranged that the criminal should present herself at
the Princess's hotel on the morrow.

The apology was written upon a small piece of paper and attached to her
fan, in order that she might repeat it word for word to the Princess.
She did it in the most haughty manner possible, assuming an air which
seemed to say, "I jest in every word I utter."

Mademoiselle de Montpensier gives us the two speeches made upon the
occasion. "Madame, I come here t