Madame de Montespan was so amazed that she had not strength enough to reply one word; with difficulty she reached the place she was going to, and with difficulty overcame and hid the trembling of her legs and of her whole body; so that upon arriving at the room where the rehearsal was to take place, she fainted.  All the Court was already there.  The King, in great fright, came to her; it was not without much trouble she was restored to herself.  The same evening she related to the King what had just happened, never doubting it was the devil who had so promptly and so precisely informed Puyguilhem of all that she had said to the King.  The King was extremely irritated at the insult Madame de Montespan had received, and was much troubled to divine how Puyguilhem had been so exactly and so suddenly instructed.

Puyguilhem, on his side, was furious at losing the artillery, so that the King and he were under strange constraint together.  This could last only a few days.  Puyguilhem, with his grandes entrees, seized his opportunity and had a private audience with the King.  He spoke to him of the artillery, and audaciously summoned him to keep his word.  The King replied that he was not bound by it, since he had given it under secrecy, which he (Puyguilhem) had broken.

Upon this Puyguilhem retreats a few steps, turns his back upon the King, draws his sword, breaks the blade of it with his foot, and cries out in fury, that he will never in his life serve a prince who has so shamefully broken his word.  The King, transported with anger, performed in that moment the finest action perhaps of his life.  He instantly turned round, opened the window, threw his cane outside, said he should be sorry to strike a man of quality, and left the room.

The next morning, Puyguilhem, who had not dared to show himself since, was arrested in his chamber, and conducted to the Bastille.  He was an intimate friend of Guitz, favourite of the King, for whom his Majesty had created the post of grand master of the wardrobe.  Guitz had the courage to speak to the King in favour of Puyguilhem, and to try and reawaken the infinite liking he had conceived for the young Gascon.  He succeeded so well in touching the King, by showing him that the refusal of such a grand post as the artillery had turned Puyguilhem’s head, that his Majesty wished to make amends far this refusal.  He offered the post of captain of the King’s guards to Puyguilhem, who, seeing this incredible and prompt return of favour, re-assumed sufficient audacity to refuse it, flattering himself he should thus gain a better appointment.  The King was not discouraged.  Guitz went and preached to his friend in the Bastille, and with great trouble made him agree to have the goodness to accept the King’s offer.  As soon as he had accepted it he left the Bastille, went and saluted the King, and took the oaths of his new post, selling that which he occupied in the dragoons.