The news reaching them from Paris remained disturbing. The queen and Mazarin had been forced to fly to St Germains with the little Louis, while Condé, returned victorious from Sens, laid siege with his whole army to Paris in the cause of the queen; but the unpopularity of Mazarin, amounting to bitter hatred, weakened the influence of the Court. A large number of the nobility joined the Fronde party, of whom de Retz was one of the foremost, while the once delicate and retiring Duchesse de Longueville was the inspiration and ardent leader of the Frondeurs. Where she was, de la Rochefoucauld could but follow, though his political views had in themselves no great depth. His mistress’s will was his; to gain her favour, he said, to please her beautiful eyes, he “made war upon kings: had need been, he would have made it on the gods.” Amidst all the rancour and uproar was mixed a vast amount of frivolity and of mockery of serious warfare. The generals led soldiers, scented and lace and ribbon-bedecked, to parade; and the women looked on, and applauded or jeered at them, as the fancy took them. “Brave de Bouillon’s got the gout, Oh, he is lion-brave no doubt, But when there’s a troop to put to rout, And Condé’s men he has to flout, Then brave de Bouillon’s got the gout.” This favourite piece of Frondeur doggerel was for ever assailing the ears of Monseigneur le Duc de Bouillon, when Condé changed sides, influenced strongly by his sister, as well as by his own convictions. The anger of the queen at his secession was terrible. She spared no one who had been ever implicated in the Fronde side of the quarrel, and de Gersay was one of the first to be avenged upon. But warning came in time, and the contingent of musketeers despatched to arrest him, arrived too late at the old Brittany manor-house. Ninon and de Gersay had already fled to St Mâlo, where they set sail for England, of whose shores they were already well in sight, when the soldiers reached the château.