On one occasion, we read that _Madame la Princesse_, “_fort allumée de colère_,” vowed that the next time there was a breach of the peace, she would, notwithstanding that she was with child,[203] place herself at the head of those who obeyed her, and cause the offenders to be cut to pieces.[204] Scarcely, however, had she and Madame de Longueville withdrawn, than the _Ormistes_, undismayed by this terrible threat, stormed the Hôtel de Ville and held it throughout the night. In the morning, flushed with success, they marched in great force upon the Quartier du Chapeau Rouge, and attacked the house of a certain M. Pichon, a president of the Parlement, who appears to have been the object of their peculiar animosity. Unhappily for them, M. Pichon had received warning of their intentions, and had taken the precaution to convert his residence into a kind of fortress, from which a withering fire of musketry was opened on the besiegers. Exasperated by their losses, the _Ormistes_ proceeded to storm and set fire to the neighbouring houses; reinforcements came up rapidly on both sides, and it seemed as though the whole town would be delivered up to fire and blood. So fierce was the fighting that it appeared hopeless for the princesses to intervene; but, at length, they bethought themselves of a happy expedient. Hastening to the curé of the Church of Saint-Messan, they ordered him to accompany them to the scene of the fray, bearing the Holy Sacrament, preceded by the cross and candles. The _cortège_ advanced into the very midst of the combatants, who desisted, vanquished by the courage and presence of mind of these young women. On 23 July, 1653, Bordeaux surrendered on honourable terms, the troops which Marsin had brought from Catalonia being permitted to join Condé, and a full pardon being granted to the inhabitants, with the exception of the leaders of the _Ormée_, one of whom was executed. The most generous offers were made by Mazarin to _Madame la Princesse_, on condition that she should remain in France and separate her interests from those of her husband. But, ever constant to her duty, Claire-Clémence declined them, and announced her intention of rejoining Condé. On 3 August, accompanied by the Duc d’Enghien and the faithful Lenet, she sailed for Flanders on board a Spanish ship-of-war. Her health had been so much affected by the trials and anxieties of the last few months that her physicians assured her that she would not survive the voyage; but, happily, these gloomy prognostications were not realized, and on 26 August she landed safely at Dunkerque. Thence she journeyed slowly, by way of Nieuport, Bruges, Ghent, and Oudenarde, to Valenciennes, where, by her husband’s orders, she took up her residence.