Châteauneuf then said that there were certain circumstances which, in his Eminence’s opinion, appeared to confirm the rumour which had reached him, namely, that the Maréchal de Créquy was staying at the same house as Bassompierre; that the Duc de Guise had travelled part of the way from Paris with the marshal and was now occupying the adjoining house, and that Bassompierre visited the Queen-Mother every day, and the Princesse de Conti, M. de Guise’s sister and one of her Majesty’s most devoted adherents, every evening. “I told him,” says Bassompierre, “that I had not seen _Monsieur_ the morning I left Paris, and that I had not taken leave of him the previous evening; that I had not yet said a word to the Queen-Mother, except aloud; that it was the duty of a courier, and not of a marshal of France, to be the bearer of such powers, which would have come too late, if God had not miraculously cured the King; that, for ten years past, I had had no other lodging at Lyons except the house of my old friend M. d’Alaincourt; that it was not just of late that M. de Créquy and I had lived as brothers, but since our first acquaintance, and that I had frequented the Princesse de Conti’s society for thirty years; that La Ville-aux-Clercs[132] and Guillemeau,[133] who had travelled post with me, could bear witness that M. de Guise had left Paris after me, that he had passed me the first day of my journey when I slept at La Chapelle-la-Reine, that I had overtaken him the following evening at Poully, and that at Moulins, since he was unable to follow me, I preceded him; and that I begged him to assure the Cardinal that I was not a man of faction or intrigue; that I always concerned myself with serving the King well and faithfully first, and afterwards my friends, of whom he was one of the chief, and I had promised him very humble service. This he promised to do, and having been to see him [the Cardinal], I told him in substance the same things, with which he professed to be satisfied.”