“As I entered, she said to me, ‘I have eaten nothing but fish, to such a degree is my stomach weakened and turned. If this continues long, I believe that I shall lose my reason. In one word, Bassompierre, you must endeavour to bring M. de Guise back to me. Offer him a hundred thousand crowns in cash, which I will arrange to give him.’ ‘Madame,’ I replied, ‘I will serve you well and faithfully.’ ‘Offer him,’ said she, ‘the post of lieutenant-governor of Provence for his brother, the Chevalier.[96] Offer his sister the reversion of the Abbey of Saint-Germain,[97] and assure him that La Rochefoucauld shall be recalled. In short, provided that I can withdraw him from this cabal and that I am assured of his support, I give you _carte blanche_.’” Bassompierre assured her that, as she had empowered him to make the Guises such a generous bid for their support, he had no fear that he should return to her “without having completed the purchase.” And, in point of fact, on the following day he returned triumphant, pluming himself not a little on having succeeded without the necessity of promising the post of lieutenant-governor of Provence to the Chevalier de Guise, “having endeavoured,” said he to Marie de’ Medici, “to act like those prudent valets who bring back at the bottom of the purse a part of the money which their masters give them to settle their bills.” The Queen, however, was so pleased at the success of his negotiations that she, nevertheless, determined to offer the post in question to the chevalier, in order that the reconciliation between her and his family might be the more complete, and directed Bassompierre to inform the Princesse de Conti of her gracious intentions. A few days after these humiliating concessions to the rapacity of the House of Guise, the Chevalier killed the son of the Baron de Luz in a duel at Charenton, though it is only fair to the former to observe that the other had called him out, and that the combat had been conducted in strict accordance with the rules governing these “affairs of honour.” On this occasion, Bassompierre, experienced courtier though he was, is unable to conceal his astonishment:-- “And here I saw a strange instance of the changes of the Court; that when the Chevalier de Guise killed the father, the Queen commanded the Parlement to take cognizance of it, to institute proceedings against him and to try him; but when, in less than a week afterwards, he killed the son, so soon as he returned from the combat, the Queen sent to visit and to inquire how his wounds were.”