Here I found Mademoiselle de Villardin with both Father Ferdinand and her worthy relation the good old Count de Loris; and great was the joy of all parties on hearing, not the successful issue of our undertaking, but the safe and fortunate manner in which it had terminated, after promising much less pleasant results. I think the ten days that followed were amongst the happiest of my whole life. I was in the society of three people, each of whom,--though very different from each other--I loved; I was in a beautiful scene where all was new; I was myself caressed and applauded by every one; there was no violent passion, either good or evil, in my bosom; and there was no restraint upon my actions. Even after we were joined by Monsieur de Villardin, although the deep melancholy which had now resumed its place in his demeanour, of course cast a degree of gloom over the whole household; and though I especially felt grieved and pained to witness the bitter sorrow that preyed upon the heart of a man to whom I was sincerely attached, still the days passed pleasantly enough; and, treated in every respect as if I had been the Duke's own son, I had every reason to be content with my condition. The passing of such days do not bear detail; but in the meantime events were taking place in other parts of France that again called us into active life. In Paris, the popular faction called the Fronde, at the head of which, as I have before said, were the Archbishop coadjutor de Retz and the Duke of Beaufort, had begun to take umbrage at the kindness which Mazarin and the Court had shown to the defenders of Bordeaux; and knowing very well that the minister had only employed their party for the purpose of delivering himself from the Prince de Condé and his friends, the popular leaders began to suspect that Mazarin, as soon as it suited him, would make what conditions he pleased with the imprisoned Princes, and set them at liberty without the intervention of the Fronde. The success of the war in Guyenne had raised the minister higher than they liked also; and the Cardinal, foolishly believing himself quite secure, soon began to treat the Frondeurs with very little ceremony. The Viscount de Turenne, it is true, was still in arms in Champagne, but the good fortune of Mazarin was again triumphant in this instance, as if on purpose to make him think himself beyond the power of fate.