While they were with the King, who should arrive but La Vieuville himself, accompanied by his brother-in-law the Maréchal de Vitry, and the Minister could not conceal his astonishment and mortification at the sight of Louis walking up and down between Bellegarde and Bassompierre and apparently on the best of terms with the latter. On perceiving La Vieuville, the King left his companions and went to speak to him, while Bassompierre approached the Maréchal de Vitry, who told him that he had been much distressed at seeing him on such bad terms with his brother-in-law, and that he was most anxious to effect a reconciliation between them. “Why should I be reconciled to him,” answered Bassompierre, “at the moment that he is about to be disgraced, when I refused when he was all-powerful?” “What! disgraced!” cried the astonished Vitry. “Yes, disgraced; and never trust me again if a fortnight hence he is still _Surintendant_.” No sooner was the conversation between the King and La Vieuville at an end, than Vitry drew his brother-in-law aside and informed him of what Bassompierre had just said; upon which the Minister, in his turn, immediately reported it to Louis XIII. The King assured him that he had not the least intention of dispensing with his services, and that Bassompierre was more likely to be disgraced than himself; and, so embarrassed was the young monarch that, had La Vieuville been bold enough to demand the immediate exile of the marshal, as Richelieu would have done in similar circumstances, it is not improbable that the latter would have had good reason to regret his indiscretion. However, fortunately for Bassompierre, he did not do so. Louis XIII afterwards reprimanded Bassompierre sharply for having placed him in such an awkward position; but the marshal excused himself on the ground that, after all the distress that La Vieuville had caused him for months past, it would be letting him off far too lightly only to make him feel the bitterness of disgrace when it arrived, and that “he had wished him to taste it in anticipation.” A few days later, during a meeting of the King’s Council, his Majesty sent for Bassompierre and, to the great astonishment of La Vieuville, to whom he had said nothing about the matter, informed the marshal that, having carefully examined the accounts of the Swiss which were in dispute, he had come to the conclusion that he had only claimed what was justly due. And then, turning to La Vieuville, he curtly directed him to see that the money was paid forthwith. “He [La Vieuville] answered not a word and made only the reverence of acquiescence. The members of the Privy Council offered me their congratulations in his presence, and the King spoke to me most graciously. Then La Vieuville saw clearly that his disgrace was at hand, and he began to tell the King that he wished to resign his office; but the King gave him fair words.”