Rupert was, meanwhile, watching over the Stuarts in France, and Maurice remained quietly at the Hague with his mother and sisters. We find him with no more exciting occupation than the paying of visits of compliment on behalf of his mother; or walking meekly behind her and his sisters, when they met distinguished visitors in the garden of the Prince of Orange. Perhaps his health had suffered from his two severe illnesses in England, and he needed the long rest. But, whatever the reason, at the Hague he stayed, until May 1648, when he was summoned by Rupert to join the Royalist fleet. [1] Cary's Memorials. Vol. I. p. 120. [2] Clarendon. Hist. Bk. VII. p. 414 [3] Rupert Transcripts. Declaration of the Prince Elector. [4] Whitelocke, 85, 101. [5] Forster's Eminent Statesmen. 1847. Vol. VI. pp. 80-81 [6] Von Raumer's History of England in 17th Century. III. p. 330. [7] Cal. Dom. State Papers, 13/23 Feb. 1645. Chas. I. DVI. f. 43. [8] Warburton, III. p. 75. [9] Cal. Dom. State Papers. Jermyn to Digby, 12 May, 1645. [10] Anne of Austria, Queen Regent of France. [11] Warburton, III. p. 82. 5 May, 1645. [12] Memoirs of Anne de Gonzague. Ed. Senac de Meilhan. Memoirs of Cardinal De Retz, and of Mademoiselle de Montpensier. [13] Bromley Letters, p. 127, 28 Nov. 1645. [14] Bromley, pp. 129-131. [15] Soeltl's Elizabeth Stuart, 1840. Bk. IV. Chap. 7, pp. 402-403. [16] Strickland's Elizabeth Stuart, p. 209. [17] Ibid. [18] Bromley Letters, p. 134. [19] Queen's Princesses, VI. p. 149. [20] Bromley Letters, p. 136. Elector to Elizabeth, Jan. 9, 1646-7. [21] Whitelocke, p. 306. [22] State Papers, 20 April, 1647. [23] Rupert Transcripts, Sept. 30, 1648. {213} CHAPTER XII COMMAND IN THE FRENCH ARMY. COURTSHIP OF MADEMOISELLE. DUELS WITH DIGBY AND PERCY Sometime before the end of the war the Queen of England had fled to France, and had set up her court at that home of Royal exiles,--St. Germains! There she had been joined by her son, the Prince of Wales, and by many English Cavaliers; and thither went Rupert in July 1646. "If thou see Prince Rupert," wrote King Charles anxiously to his wife, "tell him that I have recommend him unto thee. For, albeit his passions may sometimes make him mistake, yet I am confident of his honest constancy and courage, having at the last behaved himself very well."[1] Henrietta, convinced by her husband's words, or forgetful of the reproaches she had so recently heaped upon her nephew, received Rupert graciously, and to the Prince of Wales he was of course very welcome.