What part, if any, Frontenac himself took in the troubles of the period, does not appear; probably none, for although somewhat turbulent by nature, as will abundantly appear hereafter, he was not without a large element of caution, particularly where persons in high authority were concerned. It is certain, at least, that, when the strife was over, he enjoyed a good position at court, as Mademoiselle de Montpensier notes, having met him more than once in the cabinet of the queen. He possessed a property on the Indre, in the neighbourhood of Blois, and here he attempted to keep up a state far beyond his income. "Your means are very slender and your waste is great," said the chief-justice to Sir John Falstaff; and the same observation might not inaptly have been addressed to Frontenac. He prided himself extravagantly upon his horses, his table, his servants--in a word, on everything that was his; entertained largely, and ran himself hopelessly into debt. In 1669 the French government sent a contingent to assist the Venetians in defending Candia (Crete), against the Turks. The Venetians offered to place their own troops under French command, and Frontenac had the high honour of being recommended by Turenne, the greatest military leader of the age, for the position. In this struggle the Turks triumphed; the island fell into their power; and Frontenac returned to France with enhanced military prestige, but without any amelioration of his financial position. Saint Simon describes him as "a man of good abilities, holding a prominent position in society, but utterly ruined." He adds that he could not bear the haughty temper of his wife, and that his appointment as governor of Canada was given to him in order to relieve him of her, and afford him some means of living. His wife's temper was not more haughty probably than his own; neither apparently was disposed to show any deference to the wishes of the other. Madame de Frontenac, who was a woman of keen intelligence, without any large amount of feminine tenderness, took too dispassionate a measure of her husband's qualities to satisfy his rather exacting self-esteem. She must have had some means of her own, for, though she did not go to court, she lived for many years surrounded by the best people and enjoying a high degree of social authority. Though she did not accompany her husband to Canada, and probably was not invited to do so, it is plausibly conjectured that her influence in court circles stood him in good stead on more than one occasion.