Madame de Prie, she had rendered a public service by her efforts to run to earth this highly-placed criminal. Le Blanc, although, as a wag remarked, “after being very black, he had been made white (_blanc_) again,” was not immediately released, but remained in the Bastille until the following 12 May, when he was set at liberty and exiled to Lisieux. On the same day, the Comte de Belle-Isle was also liberated, and exiled to Carcassonne. Two months later, La Jonchère also found himself a free man. The ex-Minister’s accomplices were brought to trial before the Tournelle,[268] and were all acquitted, with the exception of La Jonchère’s gardener Lempereur, who was found guilty of the La Malmaison murder and broken on the wheel. He paid for all. CHAPTER XXIII _Monsieur le Duc_ and Madame de Prie determine to break off the marriage of Louis XV. and the Infanta, and to marry the young King to a princess capable of at once giving him an heir--Double interest of the favourite in the accomplishment of this design--Question of the remarriage of _Monsieur le Duc_--Madame de Prie, unable to oppose this, selects Marie Leczinska--Rupture of the Spanish marriage--Exasperation of the Court of Madrid--Difficulty of finding a suitable consort for Louis XV.--Madame de Prie accused of having barred the way of Mlle. de Vermandois to the crown matrimonial--The favourite advocates the claims of Marie Leczinska, who is eventually chosen--Triumph of Madame de Prie--Arrival of the new Queen--A model husband--Growing unpopularity of the Government and increasing influence of Fleury--An unsuccessful intrigue--Madame de Prie retires from Court, but _Monsieur le Duc_ insists on her return--Disgrace of _Monsieur le Duc_--His mother and his mistress follow him to Chantilly--Madame de Prie is exiled to Normandy--A touching farewell--Chivalrous behaviour of the prince--Death of Madame de Prie--Remarriage of _Monsieur le Duc_--His death. _Monsieur le Duc_ and Madame de Prie did not allow themselves to be cast down by the reverse which they had sustained at the Palais de Justice, since for some months they had been meditating a most daring project, which, they believed, would render them absolute masters of the field.