had been a
priest his marriage would have been impossible. He grew terribly tired
of the good queen mother, and did not live happily with her, which was
only what he deserved for making such a marriage" (Letter of the Duchesse
d'Orleans, 2nd November 1717).

"She (the queen mother) was quite easy in her conscience about Cardinal
Mazarin; he was not in priest's orders, and so could marry. The secret
passage by which he reached the queen's rooms every evening still exists
in the Palais Royal" (Letter of the Duchesse d'Orleans, 2nd July 1719)

"The queen's, manner of conducting affairs is influenced by the passion
which dominates her. When she and the cardinal converse together, their
ardent love for each other is betrayed by their looks and gestures; it is
plain to see that when obliged to part for a time they do it with great
reluctance. If what people say is true, that they are properly married,
and that their union has been blessed by Pere Vincent the missioner,
there is no harm in all that goes on between them, either in public or in
private" ('Requete civile contre la Conclusion de la Paix, 1649).

The Man in the Iron Mask told the apothecary in the Bastille that he
thought he was about sixty years of age ('Questions sur d'Encyclopedie').
Thus he must have been born in 1644, just at the time when Anne of
Austria was invested with the royal power, though it was really exercised
by Mazarin.

Can we find any incident recorded in history which lends support to the
supposition that Anne of Austria had a son whose birth was kept as secret
as her marriage to Mazarin?

"In 1644, Anne of Austria being dissatisfied with her apartments in the
Louvre, moved to the Palais Royal, which had been left to the king by
Richelieu. Shortly after taking up residence there she was very ill with
a severe attack of jaundice, which was caused, in the opinion of the
doctors, by worry, anxiety, and overwork, and which pulled her down
greatly" ('Memoire de Madame de Motteville, 4 vols. 12mo, Vol i. p.
194).

"This anxiety, caused by the pressure of public business, was most
probably only dwelt on as a pretext for a pretended attack of illness.
Anne of Austria had no cause for worry and anxiety till 1649. She did
not begin to complain of the despotism of Mazarin till towards the end of
1645" (Ibid., viol. i. pp. 272, 273).

"She went frequently to the theatre during her first year of widowhood,
but took care to hide herself from v