Catherine, who still piqued herself on the outward decorum of her _entourage_, was beside herself with indignation. Her maids-of-honour might commit all the sins in the Decalogue with impunity, so long as they did not add to them the unforgivable one of being found out; but, once they were so maladroit as to be detected, they must expect no consideration at her hands. However, since Isabelle was, after all, a soldier wounded in her Majesty’s service, and had done her duty nobly until she had been placed _hors de combat_, it is probable that no worse fate would have befallen her than dismissal from the “squadron” and the Court, had not her enemies profited by her misfortune to launch against her a most formidable accusation. Isabelle, as we have mentioned elsewhere, possessed a biting wit, which she was accustomed to exercise freely at the expense of those who were so unfortunate as to displease her, not sparing even the most exalted personages. The sharpness of her tongue, indeed, made her as many enemies as the charms of her person gained her admirers, and often those who approached her with words of devotion on their lips were so cruelly rebuffed that they retired with vengeance in their hearts. Among those whom she had thus contrived to offend, was Charles IX.’s former _gouverneur_, the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon,[56] an extremely dangerous person for a maid-of-honour to have as an enemy, since not only was he a Prince of the Blood, and a gentleman of a peculiarly vindictive character, but his wife[57] held the post of Grand Mistress of Catherine’s Household, a position which enabled her to make things extremely unpleasant for any of the Queen’s damsels of whose conduct she happened to disapprove. Nor was it long before Isabelle had good reason to regret her treatment of the prince, for the latter took an early opportunity of representing to the Grand Mistress that it was high time to introduce “a little reformation” into the Queen’s Household, and hinted that it might not be a bad plan were she to make a few inquiries as to the way in which Mlle. de Limeuil passed her time when off duty. The lady was of her husband’s opinion, and, from that moment, the maids-of-honour, and Isabelle in particular, found their opportunities for clandestine meetings with their admirers seriously curtailed; while, as time went on, the Grand Mistress began to evince an interest in Mlle. de Limeuil’s health which occasioned the object of her solicitude infinite embarrassment.