are told, to the dazzling character of her beauty. Her
blushes, however, on approaching the Queen, became painful; all that she
could utter was a few confused sentences, of which the Queen could not
understand a word, and those were pronounced in so low a tone that
Madame de Motteville, who listened attentively, could distinguish
nothing but the word _Madame_.

As there was no sincerity in these reconciliations, it is not surprising
to find that ere long the conduct of the Prince de Conde gave no slight
uneasiness to Mazarin. The Prince had, however, brought back the Court
to Paris; but from that very day he had shown a great change in his
attitude, and it is to the influence of La Rochefoucauld that such
change must be attributed. At that moment, in fact, the Sieur Conde had
become reconciled with every member of his family, and even with his
sister's lover. He drew closer also the links between himself and the
Duke d'Orleans, for whom he shewed great deference, say his
contemporaries, and he began to treat Mazarin with much indifference,
rallying him publicly, and declaring aloud that he regretted to have
maintained him in a post of which he was so little worthy. Enjoying a
great military reputation, feared and esteemed by the bulk of his
countrymen, he chafed at seeing himself compromised by the unpopularity
of the Cardinal. He thought that by drawing closer to the _Frondeurs_,
he should rid himself of the feeling that oppressed him. In the outset,
he had no idea of actively joining that faction, but his sister did the
rest, and hurried him on to become the enemy of that party of which he
had just been the saviour.

It is true that, for the memorable service which he had recently
rendered, Conde reaped scarcely any benefit; but his noble conduct
increased the splendour of his last campaign of 1648. It added to his
military titles those of defender and saviour of the throne, of
pacificator of the realm, of arbiter and enlightened conciliator of
parties. It gave the climax to his credit and to his glory.
Nevertheless, he did not lose sight of the jealous feeling to which
such claims gave birth, whether on the part of the Duke d'Orleans or the
Prime Minister; and he well knew that he was exposed to one of those
_coups d'etat_, the necessity of which the Chancellor as well as himself
had urged at Rueil. He considered himself as the head of the nobility,
and that important body seemed to constitute all the military powe