There seems to have been no truth whatever in these allegations. La Feuillade was in very bad health; d’Alincourt on the eve of espousing a wealthy heiress, and Torcy approaching his sixtieth year. As for the Regent, well, the post of chief sultana to his Highness was not just then vacant, being occupied by Madame de Parabère; and Madame de Prie was certainly not the kind of woman either to risk the humiliation of a rebuff or to be content with a subordinate position. Moreover, no trustworthy contemporary chronicler has charged the lady with any such ambition as gossip ascribed to her. If, however, the Regent did not fall in love with Madame de Prie, she seems to have made a very favourable impression upon him, and she was several times invited to assist at those too-celebrated _petits soupers_ at which the ruler of France was accustomed to seek relaxation from the cares of State. However, such orgies were but little to her taste, and when she had at length succeeded in obtaining from him a promise that her husband’s debts at Turin should be settled, or that he should be permitted to resign his post, she ceased to appear at the Palais-Royal. Meanwhile, the favour with which Madame de Prie was regarded in high places had begun to alarm Madame de Pléneuf and her coterie. Since her daughter’s return to Paris that amiable lady had not ceased to aim at her every kind of shaft that hatred and malice could forge and to incite her docile admirers to do the same. When, however, they saw her a welcome guest at the Palais-Royal, they began to ask themselves if they had not carried their hostility a little too far; and, though Madame de Pléneuf herself professed to be implacable, some of her friends began to make overtures to her daughter, with a view to bringing about a reconciliation. Nothing, however, came of these negotiations, for, before they had proceeded very far, an event occurred which was to fan the dying embers of the old feud into the flame of a new and interminable war. CHAPTER XXI