Soon, however, the visits to the Château of Lenet and of Madame de
Châtillon, both of whom had played a prominent part in the Fronde, were
reported at Court; and one day the Princesses were suddenly surprised
by the sight of Swiss guards stationed around their dwelling, and
Monsieur de Vauldy simultaneously arrived at the Château with special
orders from the King himself. He first asked for the Dowager Princess
and endeavoured to persuade her to leave Chantilly for Berry; which,
however, she flatly declined to do. In despair, the envoy, who had
orders from the King not to show force, then asked to see the Princesse
Claire-Clemence. On being conducted into a bedchamber, a lady lying in
bed was pointed out to him as the Princesse de Condé; and he was told
that she was suffering from so severe a cold that she could not possibly
leave Chantilly at once. Furthermore a child, also suffering in the same
way, was shown to him as the young Duc d'Enghien. These persons were,
however, in reality an English governess and the gardener's son, for the
Princess herself, with her son in her arms, had made good her escape by
a pathway that had by chance been left unguarded. Some of her ladies and
gentlemen followed her at a distance until she safely reached a spot in
the woods where she found a carriage, which had been kept always ready
for emergencies. In this conveyance, after a fatiguing journey, she
reached Montroux, an old country-seat of the Condés, where the hero of
Rocroy had passed his early youth. Thence she wrote to the Queen,
stating that she had undertaken this journey to show obedience to the
Royal commands, since she had been desired to leave Chantilly. Anne of
Austria took this communication good-humouredly enough, and admired the
pluck of the young mother, whilst everybody was amused at Vauldy's
discomfiture. At Montroux the Princess soon found herself surrounded by
friends and partisans; and she succeeded in arousing enthusiasm by her
easy and natural method of expression in speaking, which, upon occasions
of importance, could rise to flights of real eloquence.
In order to be of service to the State and to the Prince, she decided to
push on in the company of Lenet and Coligny to Bordeaux, whence the Duc
de Bouillon came out to meet her. The Princess, mounted on a splendid
charger named "_Le Brézé_," which had come from her father's stables,
was received with Royal honours by Turenne, who defrayed all her
expenses and those of her escort as far as Bordeaux.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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