umbrage to the Prime Minister. At that moment, she was merely occupied
with intellectual pursuits, innocent gallantry, and above all with the
fame of her brother, the Duke d'Enghien; but there were, it must be
owned, already perceptible in her mind, some germs of an _Important_,
which, later, Rochefoucauld knew only too well how to develop. But the
slanderous attack that had been made upon her, the disgraceful motive of
which was sufficiently clear, revolted every honest heart. The
ungovernable impetuosity of Beaufort on this occasion was--as it
deserved to be--strongly stigmatised. Having formerly paid his addresses
to Mademoiselle de Bourbon, and been rejected, his conduct assumed the
aspect of an obvious revenge. Moreover, Madame de Chevreuse's every
effort being directed towards depriving Mazarin of supporters, she
incited the devotees of either sex who were about the Queen to act
against him, and Madame de Longueville was no less the idol of the
Carmelites and the party of the _Saints_ than that of the Hotel de
Rambouillet. Again, the Duke d'Enghien, already covered with the laurels
of Rocroy, and about to entwine therewith those of Thionville, was so
evidently the arbiter of the situation, that Madame de Chevreuse
insisted, with much force, that Mazarin should be got rid of whilst the
young Duke was occupied with the distant enemy, and before he should
return from the army. To wound him through so susceptible a medium as
that of an adored sister, to turn him against herself without any
necessity, and hasten his return, would be a silly extravagance.
Therefore, all who had any sense among the _Importants_--La
Rochefoucauld, La Chatre, and Campion--anxiously sought to hush up and
terminate this deplorable affair; and Madame de Chevreuse, sedulous to
pay court to the Queen at the same time that she was weaving a subtle
plot against her minister, had prepared the little fete for her at
Renard's garden with the design of dispersing the last remaining
cloudlets of the lately-spent tempest. But the Duchess's politic purpose
was, as we have seen, destined to fail through the insane pride of a
woman who was as senseless as she was heartless.[1]

[1] Alexandre de Campion, in the _Recueil_ before cited, writes to
Madame de Montbazon:--"Si mon avis eut ete suivi chez Renard, vous
seriez sortie, pour obeir a la Reine, vous n'habiteriez pas la maison
de Rochefort, et nous ne serions pas dans le peril dont nous