Beaufort eyes Guitaut for some time in silence. "This is very strange, Guitaut. There must be some mistake. I am here by her Majesty's commands, awaiting a further audience." "I know nothing of that, your highness. My instructions are precise. You are under arrest." Beaufort unbuckles his sword. He presents it to Guitaut. Then he turns to the Duchess and Mademoiselle de Hautefort, whose countenances express the concern they both feel. "You are witness, ladies, that I, a prince of the blood, am arrested when, in obedience to her Majesty's commands, I am awaiting the honour of a further audience. _Pardieu_, that sneaking varlet, Mazarin, shall pay for this. The Coadjutor will revenge me. Lead on, Guitaut. Where is it to be? The Bastille?" "I have orders to conduct your highness to the Castle of Vincennes," replies Guitaut, bowing. "To Vincennes! And by the Queen's order! _Ventre de ma vie!_ she is a traitress after all!" [Illustration: Prosp. du Chasteau de Vincennes. VINCENNES—OLD PRINT.] CHAPTER X. MIDNIGHT VISITORS. The Queen could no longer appear in the streets without insult. The mob laughed in her face, and called her _Madame Anne_. They saluted Mazarin with howls, as her _bon ami_; some said _amant_. The words sound much alike when shouted by a mob, and are not indeed always different in point of fact. Gondi, in the parliament, uttered thrilling words about _la belle France_ going to perdition between a Spanish regent and an Italian minister. No president was found to rebuke him. Indeed when he demanded that the law respecting aliens holding office of state, passed against Concini (Maréchal d'Ancre) in the regency of Marie de' Medici, should be amended to suit the present crisis, his words were received with such a fury of applause that the roof was very nearly brought down about his head. Yet if any single member of that noisy parliament had been asked what national misfortune he dreaded, what unpunished crime, what neglect, or what personal hardship he desired to redress, he would have found it difficult to answer. It was the fashion for every one to be discontented and to rebel. If citizens, to call themselves _Frondeurs_; if nobles, _Importants_. To object to everything; to harass the Government, refuse to pay taxes and subsidies; and to threaten to call in Spain on the most trivial pretences. And this because two duchesses had quarrelled, and certain hungry princes had lost the sinecures they craved for. Thus began the civil war of the Fronde, which lasted during the whole of the minority of Louis XIV.