A most unwelcome piece of intelligence greeted him on his arrival. He was informed that, during his absence in Picardy, Mlle. de Limeuil had shown herself so unworthy of the signal honour he had done her as to find consolation in the homage of M. du Fresne, a gentleman for whom she had shown a decided preference in the days before Condé appeared upon the scene. The prince, who entertained a very high opinion both of the lady and of his own powers of fascination, was at first incredulous; but the evidence laid before him was sufficiently circumstantial to disturb his peace of mind very seriously. In consequence, the reunion to which he had looked forward with so much impatience was shorn of all its rapture, and, instead of smiles, endearing words, and embraces, there were reproaches, indignant denials, sarcastic rejoinders, tears, and sulks.
The Maréchale de Saint-André did not fail to profit by the indiscretions of her rival, and delivered so vigorous and well-timed an assault upon the prince’s heart that she succeeded in temporarily establishing herself there, and “audaciously flaunted her conquest before the eyes of the whole Court.” The maréchale had now recovered her daughter from the Duchesse de Guise, though not without an appeal to the law courts, and the little girl was on the point of being formally betrothed to the Marquis de Conti, when the Queen-Mother, who had got wind of the project, and had no mind to see the House of Condé thus aggrandized, suddenly intervened and persuaded the King to inform the parents that he should refuse his sanction to the match.
Condé could not contain his indignation. “The Prince de Condé has left the Court in anger,” runs a letter from Fontainebleau, “because they (Charles IX. and Catherine) would not give the daughter of the late Maréchal de Saint-André to his son. He believes that they intend to give her to Guise. The Constable has gone to fetch him back. Others have gone to fan the flame.”[49] But it appears to have been Mlle. de Limeuil, and not the Constable, who persuaded the prince to stomach the affront he had received and to return to the Court. Acting doubtless by Catherine’s orders, the damsel addressed to him eloquent and persuasive letters, assuring him that he alone possessed her heart, and that the affair with M. du Fresne had been no more than a harmless flirtation, which malicious persons of both sexes—woman who envied her her happiness, and gallants who could not forgive her for having preferred the prince to them—had magnified into an intrigue. As for the matter which had caused his departure from the Court, was it worth while to sacrifice his pleasures to his amour-propre? The little Mlle. de Saint-André was a sickly child, who would probably never live to a marriageable age. Let him return, and he would find his Isabelle impatiently awaiting him.
Condé did return, forgetting for the nonce his grievances against Catherine and anxious only for a reconciliation with his mistress. The Maréchale de Saint-André was compelled, to her intense mortification, to resign her conquest and retire temporarily from the field; and the prince and Isabelle embarked upon a second honeymoon, which was conducted with so little pretence at concealment that people were astonished that Catherine, who still insisted on the observance of some outward decorum at her Court, should permit such “goings on.” Her Majesty, however, who was fully alive to the political advantages of a passion which was, so to speak, binding her adversary hand and foot, found it convenient to be a little blind.
In the course of the month of November, Coligny and Andelot arrived at the Court, and, on learning of the manner in which Condé was parading his profligacy, expostulated with him in no measured terms. Their remonstrances, however, had very little effect, and it was not until the following February, when the Princesse de Condé paid a brief visit to Fontainebleau, that his Highness condescended to show some respect for les convenances.
CHAPTER V
The fêtes of Fontainebleau—Charles IX. and Catherine set out on a grand progress through the kingdom—Dangerous illness of the Princesse de Condé—Her husband obliged to remain with her—Scandalous dénoûment of the amours of Condé and Isabelle de Limeuil—Indignation of the Queen-Mother—Isabelle and the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon—The Comte de Maulevrier accuses Isabelle of having plotted to poison the prince—She is arrested and conducted to the Franciscan convent at Auxonne—Tender correspondence between her and Du Fresne—Passionate letters of Condé to his mistress—Isabelle denies the charges against her—Her letter to Catherine—She is removed to Vienne—Her despair—Her pathetic letters to Condé—She is examined by the Bishops of Orléans and Limoges, and confronted by Maulevrier.
The Court was very gay that winter. At the beginning of the spring, Charles IX. and Catherine were to set out on a grand progress through the kingdom, which was expected to occupy the better part of two years; and, before their departure, Catherine wished to revive the magnificent fêtes of which Fontainebleau had been the theatre in the days of “le Roi chevalier.” In the vast galleries where Primaticcio has immortalized the beauty of her rival Diane de Poitiers, she entertained the élite of the nobility of France, Catholics and Protestants being invited without distinction. Hunting-parties, tilting-matches, mimic combats on foot and on horseback, balls, banquets and theatrical representations filled the days and nights; the princes and great nobles vied with one another in the sumptuousness of the entertainments which they, in return, offered to their young Sovereign and his mother; and a stranger who had been suddenly transported into the midst of all this gaiety and extravagant splendour would have found it difficult to believe that he was in a country where the ashes of a desolating civil war had scarcely had time to grow cold.
One of the features of the fêtes was a grand banquet, followed by a “ballet-comédie,” which Catherine gave at the Vacherie. Isabelle de Limeuil figured in it, in the character of Hebe, and “attired in a tunic of transparent gauze, which permitted one to catch a glimpse of limbs which the goddess might have envied,” was the cynosure of all eyes. Condé was no doubt not a little flattered by the admiration which his lady-love was arousing, and it is to be hoped that the charms which she so freely displayed sufficed to preserve him from the manœuvres of her fair colleagues in the Queen’s service, who, we are told, were indefatigable in their efforts to detach him from her. At the Court of Charles IX., it was something even to be faithful in infidelity!
On 13 March, 1564, their Majesties quitted Fontainebleau, and set out on their progress through the realm. This journey had been long meditated by Catherine, who expected from it important results. In the first place, respect for the central authority had almost disappeared amid the anarchy of the civil war, and the Queen desired, by making the young King known to the nation, to re-establish the monarchical power in the interior. In the second, the crisis through which France had just passed had lowered the country immeasurably in the eyes of other States, and she flattered herself that, by means of interviews with foreign sovereigns on the frontiers, she might do much to restore the prestige of the French name. Moreover, by establishing a good understanding with them, and particularly with Philip II. of Spain, she hoped to free herself from the tutelage of the grandees of the kingdom.