From this moment the Duke avoided the Court, although he retained a friendship for the Comte d’Artois, and the two young Princes were companions in pleasure. The Queen, who was greatly attached to her young brother-in-law, used all her influence to draw him away from the “contagion” of Orleans. She persuaded the King to buy the Château de S. Cloud from the Duke (it was the favourite residence of the latter), and although d’Orléans was both furious and chagrined at being compelled to part with his _château_, he had no alternative but to obey the order of his sovereign. The huge sum raised to buy this palace was a serious drain on the exhausted Treasury, and the Queen lived to bitterly regret her imprudent action. A libel was freely circulated and believed all over France, on the occasion of the death of the Prince de Lamballe, only son of the Duke de Penthièvre. It was said that d’Orleans had poisoned his brother-in-law, in order that his wife might be sole heiress to the vast fortune of her father. The Queen went so far as to say publicly she feared a similar fate would soon befall the Comte d’Artois. Driven from the Court by these outrages, the Duke d’Orleans’ amiable and _débonnaire_ nature became utterly soured. In the first Assembly of Notables he became one of the leaders of the Opposition. On November 19, 1787, when the King proposed to this Assembly two edicts--one for the creation of a stamp duty, the other for a graduated loan of 440,000,000 francs--the Duke d’Orleans rose and boldly questioned the monarch, asking him whether this sitting was “a bed of justice” or “an open debate.” “It is a royal sitting,” the King replied. “If that is the case,” answered the Duke, “I protest against this measure; for I declare that the right of voting taxes only belongs to the States-General.” Only two other Councillors agreed with the Duke, and the edicts were immediately carried. Fréteau and Sabatier, the Councillors in question, were immediately exiled to Iles d’Hyères, the Duke of Orleans to Villers. This disgrace immensely increased the Duke’s popularity. He did not return to Paris for a year, and when the States-General was assembled he was elected deputy for Crespy. During the solemn procession at Versailles (May 4, 1789), before the opening of this Assembly, it was noticed with what affectation the Duke sought to mingle with the ranks of the Deputies of the _Tiers État_. In the first sittings of the States-General, the Duke pronounced energetically in favour of the reunion of all the orders. On June 25 he, together with forty-six other noblemen, joined the _Tiers État_, now the National Assembly; on July 3 he was elected President, but refused the honour. On the 12th the people, exasperated by the fall of Necker, carried the busts of Necker and the Duke about Paris under the leadership of Legendre. It was from the gardens of the Duke’s house (the Palais Royal) that, two days later, the organised mob departed to take the Bastille.