The death of the Duc de Guise paved the way for peace; and, through the intervention of Catherine and the Princesse de Condé, it was arranged that the prince and the Constable should meet and discuss its conditions. On March 7, two barges, the first coming from Orléans, the second from the opposite bank of the Loire, arrived at the Île-aux-Bœufs, situated a little below the town. In one was the Constable, under the care of his nephew, Andelot; in the other, Condé, under that of Damville. “There was a handsome boat ready for them, laid over with planks to make it broad and chamberlike, and covered with tapestry from the sun, where they should have ‘parlemented’ together.” But the uncle and nephew, unwilling to risk their conversation being overheard, “liked better to walk, which they did for two hours, d’Anville (sic), l’Aubespine and d’Aussy standing by, but not within hearing.”[19] Then they parted, without having arrived at any agreement, since Condé insisted that the “Edict of January” should be re-established in its entirety, to which Montmorency absolutely declined to consent, declaring that the Catholics would refuse to observe it. The Constable was escorted back to Orléans, and the prince to the Catholic camp at Saint-Mesmin. On the morrow, they returned to the Île-aux-Bœufs. This time the prince’s barge was followed by another, in which sat Catherine de’ Medici, Condé’s only surviving brother, the Cardinal de Bourbon, and the Duc d’Aumale, and two of the Queen-Mother’s maids of honour. It was remarked that these two damsels were the most beautiful of the bevy of young beauties whom Catherine had collected round her, and there was a shrewd suspicion that it was for that very reason they had been chosen to attend her Majesty upon this occasion. History has not preserved the name of the elder, but that of the younger was Isabelle de Latour-Limeuil, a lady who was destined to play a very prominent part in Condé’s life. Condé was a bad subject for prison life, and the rigorous detention to which he had been subjected at the Château of Onzain had not been without its effect upon him; he was anxious to safeguard the interests of his co-religionists, but he was still more anxious to recover his liberty. “The little man to whom I have spoken,” wrote the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon, who had had an interview with him some days before, to Catherine, “is very desirous to see the end of these troubles; he will accommodate himself to everything.” The writer had correctly judged the situation.