During the execution of these works Chantilly was frequently the scene of very interesting family gatherings. Queen Christina of Denmark, on the occasion of the marriage of her youngest son Waldemar to Princesse Marie, eldest daughter of the Duc de Chartres, made a lengthy stay at Chantilly; and not long afterwards Princess Marie Amélie, daughter of the Comte de Paris, was betrothed here to the Duke of Braganza, afterwards King of Portugal. But in that same year Republican France suddenly pronounced a further sentence of banishment upon all claimants to the French Throne--Royalist and Imperialist; in which order the Duc d'Aumale was included. In his quality of a General in the French Army, he protested against this, but without avail; and once more Chantilly was deserted. But this time it was not for long; for on returning with a heavy heart to his English home at Woodnorton and feeling his end drawing near the Duke resolved to make known immediately the act of munificence upon which he had so long decided. He therefore made public his intention of leaving Chantilly with all its forests, parks and lakes, and all its art-treasures to the care of the Members of the Institut de France, in trust for the French Nation. This was his dignified answer to the French Republic; and it made a deep and lasting impression in France. Nor was this act of generosity without immediate consequences, for shortly after a Decree signed by President Carnot was sent to the Duke with the assurance that France would welcome him back. [Illustration: PLATE XIX. HENRI D'ORLÉANS, DUC D'AUMALE. _Musée Condé._ Léon Bonnat. _facing page_ 124] On March 9, 1889 he returned to Paris, and his first act was to present his thanks to the President, who seemed much touched by the words which he uttered upon this occasion. A hearty welcome greeted him from the people of Chantilly; and on his arrival at the station he was accompanied by a vast crowd to the door of the Château. A medal was cast in commemoration of this return, upon the obverse of which was a figure contemplating France from afar and the word "_Spes_"; upon the reverse a figure at the gates of the Château holding an olive-branch and the inscription "_À S.A.R. Monseigneur le Duc d'Aumale; en souvenir du 11 mars 1889, les habitants de Chantilly reconnaissants_." Subsequently an equestrian statue of the Duke was cast and placed near the entrance of the Château by the people of Chantilly, who regarded him and his ancestors as their benefactors. And it was here amongst his art treasures that he spent the last years of his eventful life. SECOND PART _THE MUSEE CONDE_ CHAPTER XI THE ART TREASURES OF THE MUSÉE CONDÉ AND HOW THEY WERE BROUGHT TOGETHER