The body of a man who has been assassinated opposite Marie d’Entragues’s house mistaken for that of Bassompierre--Bassompierre wins a wager of a thousand crowns from the King--Marriage of the Prince de Condé and Mlle. de Montmorency--Henri IV informs Bassompierre of his intention to send him on a secret mission to Henri II, Duke of Lorraine, to propose an alliance between that prince’s elder daughter and the Dauphin--Departure of Bassompierre--He arrives at Nancy and challenges a gentleman to a duel, but the affair is arranged--His first audience of Duke Henri II--Irresolution of that prince, who desires to postpone his answer until he has consulted his advisers--Negotiations of Bassompierre with the Margrave of Baden-Durlach--He returns to Nancy--Continued hesitation of the Duke of Lorraine--Memoir of Bassompierre: his prediction of the advantages which Lorraine would derive from being incorporated with France abundantly justified by time--The Duke gives a qualified acceptance of Henri IV’s propositions--Difficulty which Bassompierre experiences in inducing him to commit his reply to writing. Soon after Bassompierre’s recovery an incident occurred which brought him and his love-affairs rather more prominently before the public than he altogether cared about. In the same street in which Madame d’Entragues and her younger daughter were then living, there lodged an Italian equerry of the Queen, named Camille Sanconi. This Sanconi was in love with his landlady, and finding her one fine night in the company of a rival admirer, he or his servants gave the latter several sword-thrusts, and then threw him into the street in his night-attire. The unfortunate man’s wounds were mortal, and he had scarcely managed to drag himself along for fifty paces, when he fell down dead, directly beneath the window of the room occupied by Marie d’Entragues.