Such, then, as I have said, were my feelings when Monsieur de Villardin recovered; and if I had sympathised with him even under his madness and his errors, how much more was my affection increased towards him by the conduct that he subsequently pursued! The deep grief, the bitter remorse, the stern self-condemnation which he evidently felt, increased my esteem without diminishing my interest; and his conduct to myself, which I have related in the last chapter, scarcely gratified me so much, I confess, as his contemptuous dismissal of her who had traduced his injured wife.
The absence of Madame Suzette was most indubitably a relief to the whole house, with the exception, perhaps, of one person in it. Even Mademoiselle de Villardin, young as she was, seemed to take a part in the general satisfaction; for she had already, though why I know not, acquired a distaste to the soubrette, which had been strongly apparent even before her mother's death, as well as a partiality for the Duchess's second woman, Lise, who now became the young lady's principal attendant.
The departure of Suzette was followed close by that of another person, who, though not so generally disliked in the household, was but little more amiable, at least in my eyes, than the soubrette herself. This was Gaspard de Belleville; but it would seem that Monsieur de Villardin had various motives for not dismissing him at once from his family with the same unceremonious decision which he had evinced towards the woman; and, therefore, waited for an opportunity of placing him in a situation, where the road to honour and distinction was open to him, if he chose to follow it.
The first occasion that presented itself also gave rise to a temporary separation between Monsieur de Villardin and myself, and may require some further explanation than could be afforded by a mere detail of the circumstances which took place at the château. When Monsieur de Villardin had quitted Paris in haste, he had left the Regency triumphant. The Parliament had become the devoted slave of the Court. The generals had made their peace. The young King, the Queen-mother, and the Cardinal had entered Paris, and regained greater power than ever; and the only shadow of an independent faction that remained consisted in the union of the lower classes, led and headed by the Cardinal de Retz and the Duke of Beaufort. Mazarin ruled everything; but he soon began to find that a friend, to whose services he owed everything, might be more difficult to manage than even an enemy. The Prince de Condé had restored him to authority, and brought back the Court in triumph: but, young, vehement, and hasty, he considered his claims as inexhaustible, and the slightest opposition he looked upon as an insult. Supported by his brother-in-law, the Duke de Longueville, by his brother, the Prince de Conti, and a number of the first nobles of the land, he soon aimed at governing the state, opposed the Court in all its proceedings, dictated to the Regent, and insulted the minister. The crafty Italian, however, now feeling himself more secure, determined at once to coalesce with his former enemies, in order to punish one, who, from his protector, had changed into his tyrant. To the party of the Fronde, led by the Cardinal de Retz, the great Condé was, for the time, as much an object of hate and jealousy as he was to Mazarin himself; and, for the purpose of revenging upon him the former defeats of the Parisians, De Retz willingly joined with the minister, for whom he entertained the most thorough contempt. Taken by surprise in the very palace itself, the Princes of Condé and Conti, and the Duke de Longueville, were arrested by the captain of the Queen's guards, and were hurried off as fast as possible to the castle of Vincennes. Terror immediately seized upon all their partisans, and one half the nobility of France fled from Paris on the day of their arrest. Mary de Bourbon, Duchess of Longueville, breathing indignation against the enemy of her brothers and her husband, made her escape into Normandy, accompanied by about sixty horsemen, and declared that she would once more raise the standard of civil war. The Duke de Bouillon fled towards the south with the same purpose; the Maréchal de Luxembourg took the way to Burgundy; and the celebrated Turenne himself, proceeding into Champagne, instantly avowed himself the partisan of the Princes, and levied troops for their deliverance.
Though such was the general feeling of the principal nobles of the French Court, very different, indeed, were the sentiments of the people of Paris upon the arrest of the Princes. Led by De Retz and Beaufort, and remembering the insults and defeats which Condé had inflicted upon them, the citizens of the capital could hardly find means sufficient to express their joy at the indignity offered to the greatest man of the country. Shouts and songs signalized his downfal. Bonfires blazed at every corner. Even the obnoxious minister himself was enthusiastically applauded for his ingratitude to his deliverer and protector; and every one declared that after this act, the Cardinal himself was no longer a Mazarin.
Various rumours of these occurrences, which had taken place early in the year, had reached us in our retirement at Dumont; but I need not tell the reader that we had quite sufficient matter in the events of our private life to occupy all our thoughts. Even had it not been so, it is more than probable that Monsieur de Villardin would have avoided taking any part in the civil dissensions of the time, as he might have found some difficulty in choosing the party to which he would give his support. Bound by ties of intimate regard to the Prince de Condé, he felt, of course, anxious for his liberation; and although he had opposed the Prince himself in the cause of the Parliament, he was naturally of a loyal disposition. It is true that, like all the rest of the world at that time, he was destined to change his party more than once, but beyond doubt his own feelings naturally led him towards the Court. Under these circumstances, in all probability, he would, as I have said, have remained neuter, notwithstanding that continual desire for activity which Lord Langleigh had noticed at the time I was first introduced to him: but about the period of which I speak, an application was made to him, which--coming as it did at a moment when any sort of employment offered the prospect of relief from those bitter and consuming thoughts that preyed upon him,--proved irresistible.
About three days after the dismissal of Madame Suzette, I was riding by the side of the Duke in one of the roads leading direct to the château, when we were suddenly encountered by a horseman coming at full speed, who paused and drew up his horse as soon as he perceived our party. Singling out Monsieur de Villardin, he at once rode up to him, and delivered a sealed packet, which was received with that sort of listless air which a combination of sickness and despondency had left behind upon the Duke, who demanded carelessly, "From whom?"
"From the Princess de Condé, and the Dukes of Bouillon and Rochefoucault," replied the courier.
Three names so friendly to his ears caused Monsieur de Villardin to show a greater degree of interest than he had done at first; and, turning his horse, he bade the messenger follow, and rode back to the château. After dismounting, he retired to read his letters alone; and, as our proposed ride was thus brought to an end, I proceeded to join Father Ferdinand, whom I had seen walking in the park as we passed.
I strolled up and down the different alleys with him for nearly an hour; and though, of course, the deep shadow of the past still overhung us both, our conversation was lighter than usual; and the arrival of the messenger from the Princess de Condé furnished us with a subject, which soon led us to the political events of the day. With these Father Ferdinand was much better acquainted than myself; and, in his brief but perspicuous manner, he gave me a clear view of all that had been lately passing in the capital. The detail was over, and we were moralising upon the facts, when a servant approached in breathless haste, telling me that he and several of his fellows had been seeking me everywhere, as the Duke had demanded to see me some time before. I followed at once, and found Monsieur de Villardin in his library with the letters still before him.