war, he had quitted the Court and its intrigues to seek
other battlefields, and to finish another war somewhat more useful and
glorious to France--that which still remained with Spain! Happy, also
for Madame de Longueville, if, taught by her own conscience, in her last
interview with the Queen, and by the shameful _denouement_ of the
miserable intrigues of which she had the secret, instead of still
serving as their instrument, she had shown her courage in resisting
them. Happy too, if, after all the proofs of devotion which she had just
given to La Rochefoucauld, she had firmly represented to him that, even
for his own interest, a different course was necessary; that it would be
better to look for fortune and honours by rendering himself esteemed
than by trying to make himself feared; that ambition as well as duty
showed his place to be by the side of Conde, in the service of the
State and of the King; that it was easy for him to obtain in the army
some post where he would simply have to march forward and do his duty,
trusting to his courage and his other merits!

But even if Anne de Bourbon had been wise enough to speak thus to La
Rochefoucauld, she would not have succeeded in gaining his ear. His
restless spirit, his ever-discontented vanity, pursuing by turns the
most dissimilar objects, because it selected none within its reach--that
_undefinable something_ which, as De Retz says, was in La Rochefoucauld,
made him abandon the high and direct roads, and led him into by-paths
full of pitfalls and precipices. Through such perilous ways we shall see
the infatuated woman following and aiding him in his extravagant and
guilty designs. Receiving the law instead of giving it, she strives to
promote the passion of another by devoting to his service all her
coquetry as well as greatness of soul, her penetration and intrepidity,
her attractive sweetness and indomitable energy. She undertakes to
mislead Conde, to rob France of the conqueror of Rocroy and of Lens, and
to give him to Spain.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE _COUP D'ETAT_--THE ARREST OF THE PRINCES.

IN the first scenes of the shifting drama, the Court had supported Conde
in compassing the destruction of the Frondeurs; and Mazarin, with keen
policy, instigated the Prince to every act that could widen the breach
between him and the faction. Whichever succeeded, the party that
succumbed would be inimical to the Minister; and in their divisions w