Condé again received the command of the Huguenot forces in Poitou and Saintonge, and found himself opposed by the Duc de Mercœur. The prince’s army was inferior in numbers to that of the Catholics, but he contrived to surprise the enemy in their camp near Fontenay, and drove them in confusion across the Loire; after which, strengthened by the arrival of reinforcements for La Rochelle, he laid siege to Brouage. Condé’s attention was not, however, entirely absorbed by military matters at this juncture. Notwithstanding the rather unfortunate outcome of his first matrimonial venture, he had for some time past been desirous of marrying again; and, shortly before the renewal of hostilities, he had decided to propose for the hand of Charlotte Catherine de la Trémoille, only daughter of Louis III., Duc de Thouars, Prince de Tarente and de Talmont, and Jeanne de Montmorency. Charlotte de la Trémoille’s father, who, by the way, had been a fanatical Catholic and a determined opponent of Condé in Poitou, of which province he was lieutenant-general, had died some years before, since which the girl had lived with her mother at the Château of Thouars, in Anjou. She was now seventeen, very pretty, very intelligent, and of a highly romantic disposition, for the Duchesse de Thouars, who appears to have had little affection for her daughter, had left her very much to her own devices, and she was accustomed to spend a good deal of her time in the perusal of the “Amadis” and other fashionable works of imagination. Condé despatched one of his officers to the Duchesse de Thouars to make the first overtures on his behalf. They were favourably received, and the duchess hastened to send her daughter to the Château of Taillebourg, a fortress of some importance on the banks of the Charente, whither she intended to follow her, so that his Highness might have an opportunity of paying his addresses to the young lady, and she of discussing with him the financial side of the affair. The alliance of the first Prince of the Blood, one of the leaders of the Huguenots, was very flattering to the pride of the La Trémoilles, who did not share the prejudices of the late head of the family; indeed, the young Duc de Thouars, although a Catholic, had taken up arms for Condé. As for Charlotte, to her romantic imagination, the prospect of sharing the fortunes of a prince who had experienced enough adventures to satisfy the most gluttonous of knight-errants, and who, if he had not yet achieved any very brilliant success, had supported his reverses with a fortitude which had gained him the admiration of even his enemies, could not fail to make a powerful appeal, and she looked forward with impatience to the conclusion of the negotiations.