The young king was brave; he wept when he withdrew his forces.
Luynes, who had declared that he would subdue the party by corrupting its leaders, had failed to seduce Rohan, the commanding-general in the province and defender of the city. It was proved, unfortunately, that that high-spirited nobleman was one of the rare exceptions, and that Luynes's system was successful with the majority of the rebellious nobles; but that system of purchase ruined France and debased the nobility.
Louis XIII. was conscious of it at times, and found his efforts neutralized by the incapacity and unworthiness of his favorite.
The army was inadequately supplied and poorly paid. The confusion was scandalous; the king paid the wages of thirty thousand combatants, and there was not an effective force of twelve thousand to take the field. The officers were disheartened. Mayenne had been killed. The Spanish Carmelite Domingo de Jesu-Maria, to whose sanctity and enthusiasm the German fanatics attributed the victory of Prague, had prophesied in vain under the walls of Montauban.
False miracles find fewer believers in France than elsewhere. The Calvinists raised their heads, and in the early days of December Monsieur de Bois-Doré received a visit from Monsieur de Beuvre, who was in a state of intense excitement and said to him in confidence:
"I have come to consult you concerning a most important matter, my dear neighbor. You know that, being closely allied to the Duc de Thouars, head of the house of La Trémouille, to which I have the honor to belong, I thought last spring of joining the people of La Rochelle. You prevented me, assuring me that the duke would melt away like snow before the king; and it happened as you predicted. But because my kinsman the duke committed an error, it does not follow that I was justified in doing the like, and I reproach myself for abandoning my cause, especially at the moment when it is recovering strength."
"Evidently your tongue betrays you, neighbor," replied Bois-Doré artlessly; "you mean that the cause is in great need of you; for, if you hurry to its assistance because it has the upper hand, I do not see wherein your merit lies."
"My dear marquis," replied De Beuvre, "you have always prided yourself on your chivalrous notions; but I am a plain man, and I speak of things as they are. You are rich, your fortune is made, your career is finished; you can afford to philosophize. I, although I am not poor, have lost much of my property through having played my hand badly in these last years. I feel active still, and inaction is tedious to me. And then I cannot endure the airs of superiority that the old Leaguers assume here in our province. The mischief-making of the Jesuits drives me frantic. Must I abjure, pray, if I wish to live in peace, like you?"
"Like me?" said the marquis, with a smile.
"I know that your abjuration did not make a great sensation," replied De Beuvre; "but, however that may be, it is too early for me to do it; I prefer to fight, and I have five or six years of activity and good health to do it."