Of course such tidings spread terror and dismay amongst the greater part of those who formed the royal procession; but upon examination it was found, that the messengers who bore this threatening intelligence--several of whom were known--might be reasonably suspected, as belonging generally to the party of the Fronde, which had everything to apprehend from the reception of the Court in Paris. Nevertheless, the risk was certainly great.
An instant order was now given for the procession to halt, and for all persons, except the ministers and a few of the general officers, to withdraw to a certain distance from the royal carriage. This was immediately done, and the Queen held a sort of council in the midst of the Bois de Boulogne. I heard afterwards that the voices of all, generals and ministers alike, with the exception of Turenne and Monsieur de Villardin, were given in favour of an immediate return to St. Germains. Those two officers, however, so strongly exposed all the weakness and folly of such a step, that the Queen herself and the young King both declared their resolution to proceed, suspecting, what I believe really was the case, that the augurs of evil, by whom we had been joined, had been sent out on purpose to terrify the Court, if possible, and prevent it from taking a step which would be ruinous to the party of the Fronde.
As soon as this was decided, we once more commenced our march, and ere long were within sight of the gates of Paris. An immense multitude of all ages, classes, and descriptions, were at that very moment streaming forth from the city; and I could see, as I rode along, more than one anxious face protruded from the carriages, to examine the crowd which we were now rapidly approaching. I dare say that the memory of the massacre at the Hôtel de Ville was at that very moment strong in the minds of all. We advanced with apparent boldness, however, into the very midst of the crowd. Several stragglers, it seems, had found their way forward, and had informed the people that an attempt had been made to prevent the King from entering Paris, but that he had determined to trust himself in the hands of his subjects. Nevertheless, for a moment or two, as we came up, there was a dead silence, which, I confess, appeared to me somewhat ominous, till the royal carriage was in the heart of a multitude, consisting of certainly not less than a hundred thousand persons: but, at that instant, a loud and universal shout of "Vive le Roi!" burst from every tongue, and doubt and apprehension were all at an end for ever.
[CHAPTER XXX.]
Never, perhaps, had turbulence and disorder worked its own cure more completely than in Paris. The general ruin which had overtaken every sort of art and trade, had disgusted all those classes, which in times of tranquillity are so potent to do good, and in times of disturbance are so potent to do evil; and they who had been the foremost in supporting faction, were now the loudest in their outcry for general submission. Unhappily, nations almost always pass from one extreme to the other; and now yielding too much to the royal authority, where they had before conceded too little, the parliament again verified every edict of the crown, and the people only murmured that the Parliament pretended to deliberate in obeying the will of the King. In one word, the faction of the Fronde was at an end, and though a general indemnity was granted to all who submitted within fifteen days, yet the rebel leaders were banished from the capital, and the Cardinal de Retz, the chief mover of every tumult and every intrigue, was arrested in the ante-chamber of the Queen, and confined in the castle of Vincennes.
The greater part of these scenes, however, passed after I had quitted Paris; for, two days subsequent to the return of the Court to the capital, I once more followed Monsieur de Villardin to the camp. Turenne soon again joined the army, but his forces were now placed upon a different footing from that on which they had hitherto stood. New regiments joined us each day, those that were already collected were speedily recruited, and in taking the field to force the Prince de Condé to evacuate France, Turenne found himself at the head of a superior, rather than an inferior force.
Through the whole of the events that succeeded I continued to serve in the regiment of Monsieur de Villardin, but nothing of any interest occurred in my private history till the end of the campaign, when, after the capture of Bar le Duc, Château Porcien, and Vervins, Turenne dispersed his army in winter quarters, and returned to Paris with the greater part of his officers.
Monsieur de Villardin now at once took up his abode in his hotel in the capital, which had escaped all the outrages that had occurred, although not a few of the best houses in the town had been pillaged at one time or another during the civil wars. His intention was to remain for two or three weeks in Paris, and then proceed to Dumont, to which place, as I before said, Mademoiselle de Villardin and Father Ferdinand had been sent after the burning of the château of Virmont. Ere we had been in the capital three days, however, a messenger arrived from Brittany, bearing the sad tidings that Laura had been attacked by a violent fever, which left but little hope of her life. We were preparing to go out in the evening when Monsieur de Villardin received the letter communicating this bitter intelligence, and clasping his hands together with agitation he could not master, he exclaimed, "She will die! Of course, she will die! It is a part of my punishment!"
I tried to raise his hopes, but in vain; and as the next best thing was to force him into activity, I proposed that we should instantly set out for Dumont. He caught eagerly at the idea, and as we could not depart without permission, which was not to be obtained till the next morning, a servant was despatched as an avant-courier, both to order relays of horses to be ready at certain hours upon the road, and give notice of our coming at the château.
As soon as the royal leave was obtained the next morning, we mounted our horses and began our journey. No time was lost upon the road, and in a very short space, considering the distance, we arrived at the spot which had been the scene of so many painful events. It was lucky, perhaps, that Monsieur de Villardin had other matter of deep interest to occupy his mind, and call it from all the associations with which the place was connected; yet, though eagerness to hear whether his child was yet in life was certainly predominant, I could see plainly that his whole frame was shaken, and his very soul moved as we rode through the park to the château.