The Marquis de Saint-Maixent’s own fortune was much impaired by his extravagance and by the exactions of the law, or rather, in plain words, he had lost it all.  The marchioness was heiress presumptive to the count:  he calculated that she would soon lose her own husband; in any case, the life of a septuagenarian did not much trouble a man like the marquis; he could then prevail upon the marchioness to marry him, thus giving him the command of the finest fortune in the province.

He set to work to pay his court to her, especially avoiding anything that could excite the slightest suspicion.  It was, however, difficult to get on good terms with the marchioness without showing outsiders what was going on.  But the marchioness, already prepossessed by the agreeable exterior of M. de Saint-Maixent, soon fell into his toils, and the unhappiness of her marriage, with the annoyances incidental to a scandalous case in the courts, left her powerless to resist his schemes.  Nevertheless, they had but few opportunities of seeing one’ another alone:  the countess innocently took a part in all their conversations; the count often came to take the marquis out hunting; the days passed in family pursuits.  M. de Saint-Maixent had not so far had an opportunity of saying what a discreet woman ought to pretend not to hear; this intrigue, notwithstanding the marquis’s impatience, dragged terribly.

The countess, as has been stated, had for twenty years never ceased to hope that her prayers would procure for her the grace of bearing a son to her husband.  Out of sheer weariness she had given herself up to all kinds of charlatans, who at that period were well received by people of rank.  On one occasion she brought from Italy a sort of astrologer, who as nearly as possible poisoned her with a horrible nostrum, and was sent back to his own country in a hurry, thanking his stars for having escaped so cheaply.  This procured Madame de Saint-Geran a severe reprimand from her confessor; and, as time went on, she gradually accustomed herself to the painful conclusion that she would die childless, and cast herself into the arms of religion.  The count, whose tenderness for her never failed, yet clung to the hope of an heir, and made his Will with this in view.  The marchioness’s hopes had become certainties, and M. de Saint-Maixent, perfectly tranquil on this head, thought only of forwarding his suit with Madame-de Bouille, when, at the end of the month of November 1640, the Count de Saint-Geran was obliged to repair to Paris in great haste on pressing duty.

The countess, who could not bear to be separated from her husband, took the family advice as to accompanying him.  The marquis, delighted at an opportunity which left him almost alone in the chateau with Madame de Bouille, painted the journey to Paris in the most attractive colours, and said all he could to decide her to go.  The marchioness, for her part, worked very quietly to the same end; it was more than was needed.  It was settled that the countess should go with M. de Saint-Geran.  She soon made her preparations, and a few days later they set off on the journey together.