The peace my brother made, as I have just mentioned, was so judiciously framed that it gave equal satisfaction to the King and the Catholics, and to the King my husband and the Huguenots, and obtained him the affections of both parties.  He likewise acquired from it the assistance of that able general, Marechal de Biron, who undertook the command of the army destined to raise the siege of Cambray.  The King my husband was equally gratified in the Marshal’s removal from Gascony and having Marechal de Matignon in his place.

Before my brother set off he was desirous to bring about a reconciliation betwixt the King my husband and Marechal de Biron, provided the latter should make his apologies to me for his conduct at Nerac.  My brother had desired me to treat him with all disdain, but I used this hasty advice with discretion, considering that my brother might one day or other repent having given it, as he had everything to hope, in his present situation, from the bravery of this officer.

My brother returned to France accompanied by Marechal de Biron.  By his negotiation of a peace he had acquired to himself great credit with both parties, and secured a powerful force for the purpose of raising the siege of Cambray.  But honours and success are followed by envy.  The King beheld this accession of glory to his brother with great dissatisfaction.  He had been for seven months, while my brother and I were together in Gascony, brooding over his malice, and produced the strangest invention that can be imagined.  He pretended to believe (what the King my husband can easily prove to be false) that I instigated him to go to war that I might procure for my brother the credit of making peace.  This is not at all probable when it is considered the prejudice my brother’s affairs in Flanders sustained by the war.  But envy and malice are self-deceivers, and pretend to discover what no one else can perceive.  On this frail foundation the King raised an altar of hatred, on which he swore never to cease till he had accomplished my brother’s ruin and mine.  He had never forgiven me for the attachment I had discovered for my brother’s interest during the time he was in Poland and since.

Fortune chose to favour the King’s animosity; for, during the seven months that my brother stayed in Gascony, he conceived a passion for Fosseuse, who was become the doting piece of the King my husband, as I have already mentioned, since he had quitted Rebours.  This new passion in my brother had induced the King my husband to treat me with coldness, supposing that I countenanced my brother’s addresses.  I no sooner discovered this than I remonstrated with my brother, as I knew he would make every sacrifice for my repose.  I begged him to give over his pursuit, and not to speak to her again.  I succeeded this way to defeat the malice of my ill-fortune; but there was still behind another secret ambush, and that of a more fatal nature; for Fosseuse, who was