was seldom in the same mind for two days together, except when Richelieu had made it up for him--and they believed that the Cardinal was none too well disposed towards Bassompierre--Angoulême’s friends continued to press his claims. The following day the King took up his quarters at Aytré, _Monsieur_ having removed to the Château of Dompierre, to the north-east of La Rochelle, on the road between that town and Niort, and, to the intense mortification of Bassompierre, who had flattered himself that the matter was settled, his first business was to hold a council to discuss the position of Angoulême. The Council summoned the duke before it and called upon him to state his case, when he declared that, having served the King faithfully as lieutenant-general for three months, he would regard it as an affront if he were called upon to resign in favour of the Maréchaux de Bassompierre and de Schomberg, who, while he had been enduring all the toils and hardships of active service, had been passing their time agreeably in Paris; that he could see no reason why he should not be associated with them in the command, unless it were the enmity which the Maréchal de Bassompierre bore him, because he happened to be the half-brother of Mlle. d’Entragues, and that he did not believe that the Maréchal de Schomberg would make any difficulty were it not that he was instigated thereto by his colleague. And he cited various precedents to show that marshals of France had several times served under Princes of the Blood. Angoulême then withdrew, and the King sent for Bassompierre and Schomberg, who had been waiting in an adjoining room, and Richelieu having read to them the substance of the duke’s speech, invited them to reply. Bassompierre, as the senior of the two marshals, thereupon rose and harangued the Council at great length--his speech occupies several pages of his _Mémoires_--maintaining that his Majesty had repeatedly assured him that M. Angoulême’s command was to be but a temporary one and that he would be removed so soon as the King joined the army; that it was contrary to all precedent for anyone but marshals of France to command, or to be associated in the command of, an army when the Sovereign was present, and that, though it was certainly true, as M. d’Angoulême had stated, that marshals had served under Princes of the Blood, they had never done so when the King had been with the army. Finally, he declared that rather than acquiesce in so great a degradation of his office, he would prefer to lay down the bâton which the King had given him and return to Paris, “to live the life of a citizen, while awaiting the honour of his Majesty’s commands to serve him in some other capacity.” It is a singular illustration of the morals of the time to find Bassompierre, in the course of this speech, making the following reference to his former relations with Marie d’Entragues:--