However, if Fleury’s position were too strong to be carried by a direct attack, it was not too strong to be undermined, and the idea occurred to Madame de Prie to draw the aged Maréchal de Villeroy, Louis XV.’s former _gouverneur_, from his retirement and oppose him to the Bishop of Fréjus. The marshal, it will be remembered, had been banished from Court by the Regent in 1722, since which time he had been vegetating in his government of Lyons. The young King had been attached to Villeroy and had shed bitter tears when he learned of his disgrace, and if, in the interval, his sentiments had not changed, the ex-_gouverneur_ might easily become a formidable rival to the bishop. Louis XV. seemed quite delighted at the prospect of seeing his old friend again, and the hopes of the conspirators ran high. But they were fated never to materialize, for, though his Majesty received the marshal graciously enough, he subsequently took so little notice of him, that the old man, deeply mortified, almost immediately quitted the Court and never appeared there again. Thus, the influence of Fleury remained as potent as ever, and, since he had not failed to penetrate this little manœuvre, the antipathy which he had always felt for _Monsieur le Duc_ and the favourite was not lessened. But Madame de Prie was a young woman of infinite resource and she had many cards in her hands. Every day _Monsieur le Duc_ relied more on her counsels, not only because he had formed the highest opinion of her intelligence, but because, as he explained after his disgrace, he felt that she was devoted to his interests, “up to the annihilation of every other sentiment.” No longer did she make any pretence of being absorbed in pleasure, as in the first weeks of her lover’s Ministry. She had become a politician of the most ardent kind, and the greater part of her time was passed in her cabinet, dictating to the two secretaries she employed for her immense correspondence, discussing with the Ministers, who, by their chief’s desire, invariably consulted her, the most difficult questions, and making notes on the _placets_ presented to _Monsieur le Duc_, every one of which was submitted to her. All who approached her were astonished at her industry, at the shrewdness of her judgment, and at her grasp of matters which are usually considered quite beyond the comprehension of a young woman. “She was,” wrote the Abbé Legendre, “a heroine capable of regulating the affairs of a vast empire.”