imself
the trouble of going as far as the Pont Neuf to see for himself the state
in which things were," and he joined with all those present in entreating
Anne of Austria; finally, the release of Broussel was extorted from her,
"not without a deep sigh, which showed what violence she did her feelings
in the struggle."

"We returned in full court by the same road," says Matthew Mole, "and the
people demanding, with confused clamor of voices, whether M. Broussel
were at liberty, we gave them assurances thereof, and entered by the
back-door of my lodging; before crossing the threshold, I took leave of
Presidents De Mesmes and Le Coigneux, and waited until the members had
passed, testifying my sentiments of gratitude for that they had been
unwilling to separate until they had seen to the security of my person,
which I had not at all deserved, but such was their good pleasure. After
this business, which had lasted from six in the morning until seven
o'clock, there was need of rest, seeing that the mind had been agitated
amidst so many incidents, and not a morsel had been tasted." [_Memoires
de Matthieu Mole,_ t. iii. p. 265.]

Broussel had taken his seat in the Parliament again. The Prince of Conde
had just arrived in Paris; he did not like the cardinal, but he was angry
with the Parliament, which he considered imprudent and insolent. "They
are going ahead," said he:--"if I were to go ahead with them, I should
perhaps do better for my own interests, but my name is Louis de Bourbon,
and I do not wish to shake the throne; these devils of squarecaps, are
they mad about bringing me either to commence a civil war before long, or
to put a rope round their own necks, and place over their heads and over
my own an adventurer from Sicily, who will be the ruin of us all in the
end? I will let the Parliament plainly see that they are not where they
suppose, and that it would not be a hard matter to bring them to reason."
The coadjutor, to whom he thus expressed himself, answered that "the
cardinal might possibly be mistaken in his measures, and that Paris would
be a hard nut to crack." Whereupon the prince rejoined, angrily, "It
will not be taken, like Dunkerque, by mining and assaults, but if the
bread of Gonesse were to fail them for a week . . ." The coadjutor
took the rest as said. Some days afterwards, during the night between
the 5th and 6th of January, 1649, the queen, with the little king and the
whole court, set out