Matta then returned to the company, much pleased with the confidence which had been placed in him, and with the share he had in the success of this adventure.  He put himself into the best humour imaginable in order to divert the attention of his guests; he severely satirised those, whose rage for gaming induced them to sacrifice to it every other consideration; he loudly ridiculed the folly of the Chevalier upon this article, and secretly laughed at the credulity of the Piedmontese, whom he had deceived with so much ingenuity.

It was late at night before the company broke up, and Matta went to bed, very well satisfied with what he had done for his friend; and, if we may credit appearances, this friend enjoyed the fruit of his perfidy.  The amorous Marchioness received him like one who wished to enhance the value of the favour she bestowed; her charms were far from being neglected; and if there are any circumstances in which we may detest the traitor while we profit by the treason, this was not one of them; and however successful the Chevalier de Grammont was in his intrigues, it was not owing to him that the contrary was not believed; but, be that as it may, being convinced that in love whatever is gained by address is gained fairly, it does not appear that he ever showed the smallest degree of repentance for this trick.  But it is now time for its to take him from the court of Savoy, to see him shine in that of France.

CHAPTER FIFTH.

He returns to the court of France—­his adventures at
the siege of Arras—­his reply to cardinal mazarin
—­he is banished the court.

The Chevalier de Grammont, upon his return to France, sustained, with the greatest success, the reputation he had acquired abroad:  alert in play, active and vigilant in love; sometimes successful, and always feared, in his intrigues; in war alike prepared for the events of good or ill fortune; possessing an inexhaustible fund of pleasantry in the former, and full of expedients and dexterity in the latter.

Zealously attached to the Prince de Conde from inclination, he was a witness, and, if we may be allowed to say it, his companion, in the glory he had acquired at the celebrated battles of Lens, Norlinguen, and Fribourg; and the details he so frequently gave of them were far from diminishing their lustre.

[Louis of Bourbon, Duke d’Enghien, afterwards, by the death of his father in 1656, Prince de Conde.  Of this great man Cardinal de Retz says, “He was born a general, which never happened but to Caesar, to Spinola, and to himself.  He has equalled the first:  he has surpassed the second.  Intrepidity is one of the least shining strokes in his character.  Nature had formed him with a mind as great as his courage.  Fortune, in setting him out in a time of wars, has given this last a full extent to work