ncorous. To add to the embarrassment of the court, _Monsieur_, the
duke of Orleans, became alienated from Mazarin, and seemed inclined to
join the Fronde. The most formidable antagonist of the cardinal in the
Parliament was M. de Retz. He was coadjutor of the Archbishop of
Paris, a man of consummate address and great powers of eloquence.

The struggle between De Retz and Mazarin soon became one of life and
death. The coadjutor was at length imboldened to offer a decree in
Parliament urging the king to banish from his presence and his
councils Cardinal Mazarin. This measure threw the court into
consternation. The cardinal was apprehensive of arrest. Some of his
friends urged him to retire immediately to a fortress. Others
proposed to garrison the Palais Royal and its neighborhood with an
efficient guard.

From the saloons of the palace the shouts were heard of the excited
populace swarming through the streets. No one could tell to what
extremes of violence they might proceed. Warned by these hostile
demonstrations, the cardinal decided to escape from Paris. At ten
o'clock at night he took leave of the queen regent, hastened to his
apartments, exchanged his ecclesiastical costume for a dress in which
he was entirely disguised, and on foot threaded the dark streets to
escape from the city. Two of his friends accompanied him. At the
Richelieu Gate they took horses, which were awaiting them there, and
in two hours alighted at the palace of St. Germain.

M. de Retz, through his spies, was immediately informed of the flight
of the cardinal. He at once hastened to communicate the intelligence
to _Monsieur_. The duke at first could not credit the statement, as he
felt assured that Mazarin would not have left without taking the young
king with him. Should the cardinal, in his retreat, gain possession of
the king, in whose name he would issue all his orders, it would be
hardly possible to avoid the horrors of a desolating civil war. All
minds in Paris, from the highest to the lowest, were thrown into a
state of the most intense excitement.

On the night of the second day after the cardinal's flight, M. de Retz
was awakened by a messenger, who informed him that the Duke of Orleans
was anxious to see him immediately at the palace of the Luxembourg.
The coadjutor rose, hastily dressed, and in great anxiety repaired to
the palace. The duke, though lieutenant general of the kingdom, was a
very timid man, and exceedingly inefficient