We accompanied the King of Poland as far as Beaumont. For some
months before he quitted France, he had used every endeavour
to efface from my mind the ill offices he had so ungratefully
done me. He solicited to obtain the same place in my esteem which
he held during our infancy; and, on taking leave of me, made me
confirm it by oaths and promises. His departure from France,
and King Charles's sickness, which happened just about the same
time, excited the spirit of the two factions into which the kingdom
was divided, to form a variety of plots. The Huguenots, on the
death of the Admiral, had obtained from the King my husband, and
my brother Alençon, a written obligation to avenge it. Before St.
Bartholomew's Day, they had gained my brother over to their party,
by the hope of securing Flanders for him. They now persuaded my
husband and him to leave the King and Queen on their return,
and pass into Champagne, there to join some troops which were
in waiting to receive them.
M. de Miossans, a Catholic gentleman, having received an intimation
of this design, considered it so prejudicial to the interests
of the King his master, that he communicated it to me with the
intention of frustrating a plot of so much danger to themselves
and to the State. I went immediately to the King and the Queen
my mother, and informed them that I had a matter of the utmost
importance to lay before them; but that I could not declare it
unless they would be pleased to promise me that no harm should
ensue from it to such as I should name to them, and that they
would put a stop to what was going forward without publishing
their knowledge of it. Having obtained my request, I told them
that my brother Alençon and the King my husband had an intention,
on the very next day, of joining some Huguenot troops, which
expected them, in order to fulfil the engagement they had made
upon the Admiral's death; and for this their intention, I begged
they might be excused, and that they might be prevented from
going away without any discovery being made that their designs
had been found out. All this was granted me, and measures were
so prudently taken to stay them, that they had not the least
suspicion that their intended evasion was known. Soon after, we
arrived at St. Germain, where we stayed some time, on account
of the King's indisposition. All this while my brother Alençon
used every means he could devise to ingratiate himself with me,
until at last I promised him my friendship, as I had before done
to my brother the King of Poland. As he had been brought up at a
distance from Court, we had hitherto known very little of each
other, and kept ourselves at a distance. Now that he had made
the first advances, in so respectful and affectionate a manner,
I resolved to receive him into a firm friendship, and to interest
myself in whatever concerned him, without prejudice, however,
to the interests of my good brother King Charles, whom I loved
more than any one besides, and who continued to entertain a great
regard for me, of which he gave me proofs as long as he lived.
Meanwhile King Charles was daily growing worse, and the Huguenots
constantly forming new plots. They were very desirous to get
my brother the Duc d'Alençon and the King my husband away from
Court. I got intelligence, from time to time, of their designs;
and, providentially, the Queen my mother defeated their intentions
when a day had been fixed on for the arrival of the Huguenot
troops at St. Germain. To avoid this visit, we set off the night
before for Paris, two hours after midnight, putting King Charles
in a litter, and the Queen my mother taking my brother and the
King my husband with her in her own carriage.
They did not experience on this occasion such mild treatment
as they had hitherto done, for the King going to the Wood of
Vincennes, they were not permitted to set foot out of the palace.
This misunderstanding was so far from being mitigated by time,
that the mistrust and discontent were continually increasing,
owing to the insinuations and bad advice offered to the King by
those who wished the ruin and downfall of our house. To such a
height had these jealousies risen that the Maréchaux de Montmorency
and de Cossé were put under a close arrest, and La Mole and the
Comte de Donas executed. Matters were now arrived at such a pitch
that commissioners were appointed from the Court of Parliament
to hear and determine upon the case of my brother and the King
my husband.
My husband, having no counsellor to assist him, desired me to
draw up his defence in such a manner that he might not implicate
any person, and, at the same time, clear my brother and himself
from any criminality of conduct. With God's help I accomplished
this task to his great satisfaction, and to the surprise of the
commissioners, who did not expect to find them so well prepared
to justify themselves.
As it was apprehended, after the death of La Mole and the Comte
de Donas, that their lives were likewise in danger, I had resolved
to save them at the hazard of my own ruin with the King, whose
favour I entirely enjoyed at that time. I was suffered to pass
to and from them in my coach, with my women, who were not even
required by the guard to unmask, nor was my coach ever searched.
This being the case, I had intended to convey away one of them
disguised in a female habit. But the difficulty lay in settling
betwixt themselves which should remain behind in prison, they
being closely watched by their guards, and the escape of one
bringing the other's life into hazard. Thus they could never
agree upon the point, each of them wishing to be the person I
should deliver from confinement.
But Providence put a period to their imprisonment by a means
which proved very unfortunate for me. This was no other than
the death of King Charles, who was the only stay and support of
my life,--a brother from whose hands I never received anything
but good; who, during the persecution I underwent at Angers,
through my brother Anjou, assisted me with all his advice and
credit. In a word, when I lost King Charles, I lost everything.