ite well," they said, "that Mazarin is but a sort of jack-in-the-box,
out of sight to-day and popping up to-morrow; but you also see that,
whether he be in or out, the spring that sends him up or down is that of
the royal authority, the which will not, apparently, be so very soon
broken by the means taken to break it. The obligation you are under
towards Monsieur, and even towards the public, as regards Mazarin, does
not allow you to work for his restoration; he is no longer here, and,
though his absence may be nothing but a mockery and a delusion, it
nevertheless gives you an opportunity for taking certain steps which
naturally lead to that which is for your good." Retz lost no time in
going to Compiegne, where the king had installed himself after Mazarin's
departure; he took with him a deputation of the clergy, and received in
due form the cardinal's hat. He was the bearer of proposals for an
accommodation from the Duke of Orleans, but the queen cut him short. The
court perceived its strength, and the instructions of Cardinal Mazarin
were precise. The ruin of De Retz was from that moment resolved upon.

The Prince of Conde was ill; he had left the command of his troops to M.
do Tavannes; during the night between the 5th and 6th of October, Turenne
struck his camp at Villeneuve St. Georges, crossed the Seine at Corbeil,
the Marne at Meaux, without its being in the enemy's power to stop him,
and established himself in the neighborhood of Dammartin. Conde was
furious. "Tavannes and Vallon ought to wear bridles," he said; "they are
asses;" he left his house, and placed himself once more at the head of
his army, at first following after Turenne, and soon to sever himself
completely from that Paris which was slipping away from him. "He would
find himself more at home at the head of four squadrons in the Ardennes
than commanding a dozen millions of such fellows as we have here, without
excepting President Charton," said the Duke of Orleans. "The prince was
wasting away with sheer disgust; he was so weary of hearing all the talk
about Parliament, court of aids, chambers in assembly, and Hotel de
Ville, that he would often declare that his grandfather had never been
more fatigued by the parsons of La Rochelle." The great Conde was
athirst for the thrilling emotions of war; and the crime he committed was
to indulge at any price that boundless passion. Ever victorious at the
head of French armies, he was about to make e