Foiled in this attempt to reach the secret, Richelieu tried whether it might not be wrung from the servants of the queen. La Porte, as being supposed to possess a large share of her confidence, was of course most open to suspicion and persecution. There had, besides, been found upon him a letter from the queen to the duchess of Chevreuse, who was then in exile. In the month of August, 1637, he was committed to the Bastile. Here he was repeatedly and severely questioned, but nothing to criminate his royal mistress could be drawn from him. It was in vain that the cardinal himself employed threats and promises, to obtain the information which he so much desired. The obstinate fidelity of La Porte was not to be shaken, even when the commissary showed him a paper, which he said contained an order for applying to him the torture, and took him to the room that he might see the instruments. He was equally proof to the fear of death. In May, 1638, it being then certain that, after being childless for two-and-twenty years, Anne of Austria was in a situation to give an heir to the throne, the liberation of La Porte was granted to her. He was, however, exiled to Saumur, where he resided till the decease of Louis XIII. When Anne became regent, she recalled him, and gave him a hundred thousand francs, that he might purchase the place of principal valet-de-chambre to the king. This office he held for several years. But La Porte was too honest to prosper in a corrupt court. Sincerely attached to the queen-regent, he thought it his duty to apprise her of the degrading reports which were spread, on the subject of her long interviews with Mazarin, and by this candour he cooled her friendship and gratitude, while, at the same time, he incurred the enmity of the cardinal himself, by communicating to her a circumstance, relative to the young king, which Mazarin was desirous of keeping concealed. In revenge, Mazarin deprived him of his place, and forbad him to appear at court. It was not till after the death of the cardinal that La Porte was again admitted to the king’s presence, and from him he met with a kind reception. He died in 1680.