Though Frontenac and his wife were unable to live together, they did not become completely estranged. It may be that the death of their son--who seems to have been killed in battle--drew them together once more, at least in spirit. It may be that with the Atlantic between them they appreciated each other's virtues more justly. It may have been loyalty to the family tradition. Whatever the cause, they maintained an active correspondence during Frontenac's years in Canada, and at court Madame de Frontenac was her husband's chief defence against numerous enemies. When he died it was found that he had left her his property. But she never set foot in Canada. Frontenac was forty-one when Louis XIV dismissed Fouquet and took Colbert for his chief adviser. At Versailles everything depended on royal favour, and forty-one is an important age. What would the young king do for Frontenac? What were his gifts and qualifications? It is plain that Frontenac's career, so vigorously begun during the Thirty Years' War, had not developed in a like degree during the period (1648-61) from the outbreak of the Fronde to the death of Mazarin. There was no doubt as to his capacity. Saint-Simon calls him 'a man of excellent parts, living much in society.' And again, when speaking of Madame de Frontenac, he says: 'Like her husband she had little property and abundant wit.' The bane of Frontenac's life at this time was his extravagance. He lived like a millionaire till his money was gone. Not far from Blois he had the estate of Isle Savary--a, property quite suited to his station had he been prudent. But his plans for developing it, with gardens, fountains, and ponds, were wholly beyond his resources. At Versailles, also, he sought to keep pace with men whose ancestral wealth enabled them to do the things which he longed to do, but which fortune had placed beyond his reach. Hence, notwithstanding his buoyancy and talent, Frontenac had gained a reputation for wastefulness which did not recommend him, in 1661, to the prudent Colbert. Nor was he fitted by character or training for administrative duty. His qualifications were such as are of use at a post of danger.