Great was the joy which my arrival spread; for neither King, nor Queen, nor ministers, had felt themselves at all easy under the prospect of a junction between the Prince de Condé and the Duke of Loraine in the immediate vicinity of Paris; and, as Turenne now gave them the most positive assurance that he would be able to keep both those generals in check, for at least a month, while the Court negotiated with the Parisians, and raised new troops, it may be conceived that his despatch proved a very agreeable relief to the minds of all. It luckily so happened, also, that one of the persons most interested in the tidings which I brought was precisely in the situation which best enabled him to make my journey as satisfactory to myself as it had proved to him. Cardinal Mazarin, having by this time been forced once more to quit France, had left his whole interest in the hands of his friend, Monsieur le Tellier; and that minister, who knew that the first reverse on the part of the Court would induce the Parliament to pronounce the Cardinal's banishment eternal, was perhaps more overjoyed than any one at the tidings that I brought. I found him out immediately after my arrival, and communicated the intelligence to him before he had received it from any other person. At the very first intelligence, he took me in his arms, and hugged me, as if I had been his own son; and then, making me sit down to dinner with him, at which meal he had been engaged when I entered, he asked me a multitude of questions, seeking evidently a confirmation of the hopes which Monsieur de Turenne had held out. I anticipated no immediate reward, however; and as I was very anxious to see the rest of the campaign, I determined to depart the next day or the one following, if I could obtain leave to do so; and, therefore, on the morning after my arrival, I again visited the minister, in order to request that he would solicit for me the King's permission to that effect. Without making me any reply, he took me by the hand, and led me, followed by a secretary with his portfolio, to the presence of the young monarch and his mother, who were listening to some news from Paris, not quite so agreeable in their nature as my tidings had proved. "This young gentleman, sire," said Monsieur le Tellier, "is all eagerness to return to the camp, in order to serve your Majesty in the field, but I think you said that you had some commands for him ere his departure?" "You are right," replied the monarch; "are the letters drawn up?"