Madame de Frontenac was beautiful, and to beauty she added the charm of wit.  With these endowments she made her way despite her slender means—­and to be well-born but poor was a severe hardship in the reign of Louis XIV.  Her portrait at Versailles reflects the striking personality and the intelligence which won for her the title La Divine.  Throughout an active life she never lacked powerful friends, and Saint-Simon bears witness to the place she held in the highest and most exclusive circle of court society.

Frontenac and his wife lived together only during the short period 1648-52.  But intercourse was not wholly severed by the fact of domestic separation.  It is clear from the Memoirs of the Duchesse de Montpensier that Frontenac visited his wife at Saint-Fargeau, the country seat to which the duchess had been exiled for her part in the wars of the Fronde.  Such evidence as there is seems to show that Madame de Frontenac considered herself deeply wronged by her husband and was unwilling to accept his overtures.  From Mademoiselle de Montpensier we hear little after 1657, the year of her quarrel with Madame de Frontenac.  The maid of honour was accused of disloyalty, tears flowed, the duchess remained obdurate, and, in short, Madame de Frontenac was dismissed.

The most sprightly stories of the Frontenacs occur in these Memoirs of La Grande Mademoiselle.  Unfortunately the Duchesse de Montpensier was so self-centred that her witness is not dispassionate.  She disliked Frontenac, without concealment.  As seen by her, he was vain and boastful, even in matters which concerned his kitchen and his plate.  His delight in new clothes was childish.  He compelled guests to speak admiringly of his horses, in contradiction of their manifest appearance.  Worst of all, he tried to stir up trouble between the duchess and her own people.

Though Frontenac and his wife were unable to live together, they did not become completely estranged.  It may be that the death of their son—­who seems to have been killed in battle—­drew them together once more, at least in spirit.  It may be that with the Atlantic between them they appreciated each other’s virtues more justly.  It may have been loyalty to the family tradition.  Whatever the cause, they maintained an active correspondence during Frontenac’s years in Canada, and at court Madame de Frontenac was her husband’s chief defence against numerous enemies.  When he died it was found that he had left her his property.  But she never set foot in Canada.

Frontenac was forty-one when Louis XIV dismissed Fouquet and took Colbert for his chief adviser.  At Versailles everything depended on royal favour, and forty-one is an important age.  What would the young king do for Frontenac?  What were his gifts and qualifications?