d an
imprisonment of ten tedious years. She did not care much about Mazarin,
with whom she had no acquaintance, whom she had never seen, and who
appeared to her unsupported either by the Court or the French nation,
whilst she felt herself sustained by all that was illustrious, powerful,
and accredited therein. She believed that she could make sure of the
Duke d'Orleans through his wife, the beautiful Margaret, sister of
Charles of Lorraine. She could dispose almost at will of the Houses of
Rohan and Lorraine, particularly of the Duke de Guise and the Duke
d'Elbeuf, like herself just returned from Flanders. She reckoned upon
the Vendomes, upon the Duke d'Epernon, upon La Vieuville, her old
companions in exile in England; upon the ill-treated Bouillons, upon La
Rochefoucauld, whose disposition and pretensions were so well known to
her; upon Lord Montagu, who had been her slave, and at that moment
possessed the entire confidence of Anne of Austria; upon La Chatre, the
friend of the Vendomes, and Colonel-General of the Swiss Guards; upon
Treville, upon Beringhen, upon Jars, upon La Porte, who were all
emerging from exile, prison, and disgrace. Among the women, her young
stepmother and her sister-in-law seemed secure--Madame de Montbazon and
Madame de Guemene, the two greatest beauties of the time, who drew after
them a numerous crowd of old and young adorers. She knew also that among
the first acts of the Regent had been the recall to her side of the two
noble victims of Richelieu--Madame de Senece and Madame de Hautefort,
whose virtue and piety had conspired so beneficially with other
influences, and had given them an inestimable weight in the household of
Anne of Austria. All those calculations seemed accurate, all those hopes
well-founded; and Madame de Chevreuse left Brussels firmly persuaded
that she was about to re-enter the Louvre as a conqueress. She deceived
herself: the Queen was already changed, or very nearly so.

To show due honour to her former favourite, however, Anne of Austria
despatched La Rochefoucauld to greet and escort her homewards; but
before he set out she charged him to inform the Duchess of the altered
disposition in which she would find her royal mistress. During that
audience Rochefoucauld did his utmost to reinstate his charming friend
and close ally in the Queen's good graces. "I spoke to her," says he,
"with more freedom perhaps than was becoming. I set before her Madame de
Chevreuse's fideli