I sent his messenger back, and, immediately after, my brother sent Bussi and all his household to Angers, and, taking with him fifteen or twenty attendants, he rode post to me at La Fere.  It was a great satisfaction to me to see one whom I so tenderly loved and greatly honoured, once more.  I consider it amongst the greatest felicities I ever enjoyed, and, accordingly, it became my chief study to make his residence here agreeable to him.  He himself seemed delighted with this change of situation, and would willingly have continued in it longer had not the noble generosity of his mind called him forth to great achievements.  The quiet of our Court, when compared with that he had just left, affected him so powerfully that he could not but express the satisfaction he felt by frequently exclaiming, “Oh, Queen! how happy I am with you.  My God! your society is a paradise wherein I enjoy every delight, and I seem to have lately escaped from hell, with all its furies and tortures!”

LETTER XVII.

Good Effects of Queen Marguerite’s Negotiations in Flanders.—­She Obtains Leave to Go to the King of Navarre Her Husband, but Her Journey Is Delayed.—­Court Intrigues and Plots.—­The Duc d’Alencon Again Put under Arrest.

We passed nearly two months together, which appeared to us only as so many days.  I gave him an account of what I had done for him in Flanders, and the state in which I had left the business.  He approved of the interview with the Comte de Lalain’s brother in order to settle the plan of operations and exchange assurances.  Accordingly, the Comte de Montigny arrived, with four or five other leading men of the county of Hainault.  One of these was charged with a letter from M. d’Ainsi, offering his services to my brother, and assuring him of the citadel of Cambray.  M. de Montigny delivered his brother’s declaration and engagement to give up the counties of Hainault and Artois, which included a number of fine cities.  These offers made and accepted, my brother dismissed them with presents of gold medals, bearing his and my effigies, and every assurance of his future favour; and they returned to prepare everything for his coming.  In the meanwhile my brother considered on the necessary measures to be used for raising a sufficient force, for which purpose he returned to the King, to prevail with him to assist him in this enterprise.

As I was anxious to go to Gascony, I made ready for the journey, and set off for Paris, my brother meeting me at the distance of one day’s journey.

At St. Denis I was met by the King, the Queen my mother, Queen Louise, and the whole Court.  It was at St. Denis that I was to stop and dine, and there it was that I had the honour of the meeting I have just mentioned.

I was received very graciously, and most sumptuously entertained.  I was made to recount the particulars of my triumphant journey to Liege, and perilous return.  The magnificent entertainments I had received excited their admiration, and they rejoiced at my narrow escapes.  With such conversation I amused the Queen my mother and the rest of the company in her coach, on our way to Paris, where, supper and the ball being ended, I took an opportunity, when I saw the King and the Queen my mother together, to address them.