A CHAPTER OF CORRESPONDENCE
About this time a fresh trouble arose for Lady Strange, and for her mother and sister-in-law, in the defection of the Duke de la Trémoille from Protestantism. He went to Rochelle; not, however, to take part in the defence of the Huguenots against Richelieu’s attacks, but to join the besiegers. Being received into the Church of Rome by the Cardinal himself, he was at once nominated to the command of the light cavalry.
“I cannot get over my astonishment at my brother’s change of religion,” writes Lady Strange to her mother. “There has been a report of it for this long time past; and even the Queen was told that it was quite certain; but she, finding that you Madame, were included in the defection, said she believed nothing at all about it. That led me also to doubt about my brother; but God has thought fit to send this affliction upon you Madame, and upon our house. It distresses me greatly, and even more than I could have believed. The letter from him which you have been pleased to send me shows his thoughts; but I cannot believe in what he says, that ‘a worldly mind would have done differently.’ The Catholics always talk so.”
In writing to her sister-in-law, who had just given birth to a little girl, she adds:—
“I honour and love you with all my heart; and that makes me doubly disturbed at the change in your husband. It has marvellously astonished me; and I can hardly credit it, but I trust in the goodness of God to change his heart. Certainly, scarcely anyone will believe that it is out of anything but a mere human consideration: and truly, when one regards only that, it does lead one to lose no time in abandoning one’s religious profession. I pity very much the pain you will suffer in not following his example; but nevertheless dear heart, I doubt not that you will resist. God give you strength above your own, and we shall see you doubly serving the advancement of His glory, since you have now no help.—I am told that if my brother could, he would have asked for my fortune: but that the law of the country did not permit it.—I must confess to you Madame, that save from respect to you, I do not know what I should be driven to, by the contempt with which he treats us.”
She concludes by imploring her mother’s forgiveness of her second brother, the Count de Laval, who had taken refuge in Holland after some escapades in France.
During the sitting of Parliament, Lord and Lady Strange were in London, where she gave birth to a daughter, who died very soon after, suffocated in the nurse’s bed. For a time this accident greatly troubled her; the child, however, was a very young infant when it happened. The little boy was well and flourishing, and the mother appears to have found consolation before very long. Towards the close of the year 1629 she returned to Lathom, and no further correspondence is to be found of hers until October 1631. Then she writes in profound grief, for her mother had died, at Château Nonard, in the preceding August.
“Dear Sister,—It would have been a consolation in my extreme affliction to have been honoured by letters from you, and above all, to know that I continue to live in your friendship, which is one of the things I most desire in this world to be honoured by; and I am sure that you will always keep it for me—not that I deserve it, but for the sake of the love of her whom we mourn, since you did not doubt of the affection she bore for me; and as I have always loved you best after her, at this time, when God has taken her from us, I put you in her place, to give you all the respect, duty, and friendship which I entertained for her. God has taken her for our punishment, and to render her happy. I never liked this residence of Château Nonard, because it was so far from all her children; but Heaven decreed that should be so, in order to detach her from earthly things. As for me, I confess that I have no longer any pleasure in them. Touching what you bid me tell you of the feelings of my brother de Laval, I did not see him until three days after the news arrived, and I saw him shed a few tears; but soon after, he was as merry as before. For me, I own that were I in his place, I should never have any happiness again; but I cannot say whether he conceals grief beneath. At all events, he shows no sorrow for the past. He only comes to see me now and again, and displays great impatience in my company, and a desire to be going again. He is so diversely spoken of, that I do not know what to believe of it all.”
This letter is dated from Chelsea, where she had been staying for some time.
At this place she gave birth to a daughter, who was baptized Henrietta Maria, the Queen probably being its godmother. About the same time, a second daughter was born to Madame de la Trémoille—Marie Charlotte.