Monseigneur burst out laughing at this sally, and all the company followed his example, in the midst of which M. de Lauzun turned on his heel and left the room.  His joke soon spread all over the Court and the town, and in the evening was told to the King.  This was all the thanks M. de Villeroy obtained from M. de Lauzun for the honours he had paid him; and this was M. de Lauzun’s consolation for his ill-success at Aix-la-Chapelle.

In Italy our armies were not more successful than elsewhere.  From time to time, M. de Vendome attacked some unimportant post, and, having carried it, despatched couriers to the King, magnifying the importance of the exploit.  But the fact was, all these successes led to nothing.  On one occasion, at Cassano, M. de Vendome was so vigorously attacked by Prince Louis of Baden that, in spite of his contempt and his audacity, he gave himself up for lost.  When danger was most imminent, instead of remaining at his post, he retired from the field of battle to a distant country-house, and began to consider how a retreat might be managed.  The Grand Prieur, his brother, was in command under him, and was ordered to remain upon the field; but he was more intent upon saving his skin than on obeying orders, and so, at the very outset of the fight, ran away to a country-house hard by.  M. de Vendome strangely enough had sat down to eat at the country-house whither he had retired, and was in the midst of his meal when news was brought him that, owing to the prodigies performed by one of his officers, Le Guerchois, the fortunes of the day had changed, and Prince Louis of Baden was retiring.  M. Vendome had great difficulty to believe this, but ordered his horse, mounted, and, pushing on, concluded the combat gloriously.  He did not fail, of course, to claim all the honours of this victory, which in reality was a barren one; and sent word of his triumph to the King.  He dared to say that the loss of the enemy was more than thirteen thousand; and our loss less than three thousand—­whereas, the loss was at least equal.  This exploit, nevertheless, resounded at the Court and through the town as an advantage the most complete and the most decisive, and due entirely to the vigilance, valour, and capacity of Vendome.  Not a word was said of his country-house, or the interrupted meal.  These facts were only known after the return of the general officers.  As for the Grand Prieur, his poltroonery had been so public, his flight so disgraceful—­for he had taken troops with him to protect the country-house in which he sought shelter—­that he could not be pardoned.  The two brothers quarrelled upon these points, and in the end the Grand Prieur was obliged to give up his command.  He retired to his house at Clichy, near Paris; but, tiring of that place, he went to Rome, made the acquaintance there of the Marquise de Richelieu, a wanderer like himself, and passed some time with her at Genoa.  Leaving that city, he went to Chalons-sur-Saone, which