One night, while de Retz was languishing in an upper chamber of the Mercœur tower of this prison of his, a boat lay moored beneath in the shadow, and de Retz contrived that the guard and sentry of the castle should all be furnished with ample means for a carouse. It was tempting, and not one declined the generosity of his good-natured Eminence. The revellers grew sleepy and dazed; too entirely so to do more than gaze lacklustrely up at their prisoner’s red cloak and hat, blowing about in the evening breeze upon the upper walls of the battlements which he was permitted to pace for exercise. De Retz, meanwhile, who had slipped out of his vesture, and hung it there, was dropping rapidly down by a rope moored fast to the stanchions of his loophole casement in the Tour de Mercœur, into the boat which was then sped away to the shore by the oars of one of his trusty waiting friends, of whom he had scores; and in this way gained the spot upon the banks where a horse was waiting ready saddled. Springing up, de Retz bounded away on his steed, which in very short time flung him, and his shoulder was dislocated; but, the pain notwithstanding, he mounted again, and then reaching the shelter of the Château de Beaupréau, he made his way through Spain to Rome and perfect safety, until by resigning his archbishopric, which through the death of his uncle had become his, he was reconciled to the governing powers of France and returned to Paris. Of the two most prominent leaders in the long civil contention, Condé retired to Spain, and Mademoiselle de Montpensier wandered about from château to château in Normandy, forbidden to come to Paris for several years. All idea of her marriage with Louis XIV. was extinguished on the day she fired upon the royal troops. “Very good!” exclaimed Mazarin then, “she has killed her husband.” [Illustration: Ninon de Lenclos. _Deveria del^t_ _Tavernier sculp^t_ _To face page 127._]