It required, however, something more than a joke to shake the confidence which the monarch placed in the cardinal. That something more was not slow in coming. Since the treaties of Conflans and Peronne, it had been a main object of Louis to dissociate his brother, the duke of Berry, from his dangerous adviser the duke of Burgundy; and, as one means towards effecting this, he strove hard to induce him to accept, as an appanage, the duchy of Guienne and the government of Rochelle, instead of the provinces of Champagne and Brie, which, by the treaty of Peronne, he had been compelled to confirm to his brother. Louis was undoubtedly justified in wishing to accomplish this object, as there was little chance that peace would be preserved if the duke of Berry became an immediate neighbour of the duke of Burgundy. Nor was the equivalent which the king offered for Champagne and Brie an inadequate one, but much the contrary. On this occasion, the king suffered the penalty to which all deceivers are subjected, that of not being trusted. Could the duke of Berry have put faith in his brother, he no doubt would have accepted Guienne. It was with no less surprise than indignation that the king discovered, by intercepted letters, that all his efforts, not only in this case but in others, had been counteracted by the man on whom he most relied. The cardinal, and his friend and agent William d’Haraucourt, bishop of Verdun, were in close correspondence with his enemies. It was to revenge himself for the king having failed in his promise, to procure him a cardinal’s hat, that d’Haraucourt entered into the plot against him. It would seem that nothing short of madness could have prompted the cardinal to peril his liberty and fortune, perhaps his life, by his treasonable proceeding. But here again the king was whipped by his own vices. Balue perceived or imagined that his influence was declining, he was convinced that it would wholly expire whenever his services were no longer necessary to the monarch—Louis being, in his opinion, incapable of personal attachment—and he therefore resolved to place him in such a situation, by making the king’s foes formidable, that those services should be always indispensable. On his being interrogated, he avowed, with a shameless candour, that, for this purpose, he had betrayed the secrets of the state to the Burgundian duke, encouraged the duke of Berry to refuse the proposed exchange, advised the calamitous interview and disgraceful treaty of Peronne, and recommended to Charles of Burgundy to compel the king to accompany him on the expedition against the revolted citizens of Liege.