en
to go to the door, and speaking softly, as if I was asleep, to
ask the men what they wanted. They did so, and the archers replied
that the chimney was on fire, and they came to extinguish it. My
women answered it was of no consequence, and they could put it out
themselves, begging them not to awake me. This alarm thus passed
off quietly, and they went away; but, in two hours afterward, M.
de Cosse came for me to go to the King and the Queen my mother,
to give an account of my brother's escape, of which they had
received intelligence by the Abbot of Ste. Genevieve.

It seems it had been concerted betwixt my brother and the abbot,
in order to prevent the latter from falling under disgrace, that,
when my brother might be supposed to have reached a sufficient
distance, the abbot should go to Court, and say that he had been
put into confinement whilst the hole was being made, and that
he came to inform the King as soon as he had released himself.

I was in bed, for it was yet night; and rising hastily, I put
on my night-clothes. One of my women was indiscreet enough to
hold me round the waist, and exclaim aloud, shedding a flood of
tears, that she should never see me more. M. de Cosse, pushing
her away, said to me: "If I were not a person thoroughly devoted
to your service, this woman has said enough to bring you into
trouble. But," continued he, "fear nothing. God be praised, by
this time the Prince your brother is out of danger."

These words were very necessary, in the present state of my mind,
to fortify it against the reproaches and threats I had reason
to expect from the King. I found him sitting at the foot of the
Queen my mother's bed, in such a violent rage that I am inclined
to believe I should have felt the effects of it, had he not been
restrained by the absence of my brother and my mother's presence.
They both told me that I had assured them my brother would not
leave the Court, and that I pledged myself for his stay. I replied
that it was true that he had deceived me, as he had them; however,
I was ready still to pledge my life that his departure would
not operate to the prejudice of the King's service, and that it
would appear he was only gone to his own principality to give
orders and forward his expedition to Flanders.

The King appeared to be somewhat mollified by this declaration,
and now gave me permission to return to my own apartments. Soon
afterwards he received letters from my brother, contai