Bassompierre, during his absence in Lorraine, condemned by the Archbishop of Aix to espouse Mlle. d’Entragues, on pain of excommunication--The archbishop’s decision quashed by the Parlement of Paris--Financial and amatory embarrassments of Bassompierre--Death of his mother--The action which the d’Entragues have brought against him finally decided in his favour--Condé withdraws from Court and issues a manifesto against the Government--Civil war begins--Marriage of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria--Peace of Loudun--Fall of the old Ministers of Henri IV--Concini and the shoemaker--Condé becomes all-powerful--He obliges Concini to retire to Normandy--Arrogance of Condé and his partisans, who are suspected of conspiracy to change the form of government--The Queen-Mother sends for Bassompierre at three o’clock in the morning and informs him that she has decided upon the arrest of the Princes--Preparations for this _coup d’état_--Arrest of Condé--Concini’s house sacked by the mob--The Comte d’Auvergne and the Council of War--Bassompierre conducts Condé from the Louvre to the Bastille. In January, 1615, Bassompierre set out for Lorraine, to visit his mother, who was lying dangerously ill at Nancy. “The joy of seeing me,” says he, “restored her to some degree of health,” and, after remaining with her a fortnight, he went to visit some of his friends in Germany. About Easter he returned to Nancy, and was about to set out for France when he received a most astonishing piece of intelligence.