Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/114

100 and previous to this in the affair of 1637, he had not respected the asylum of the queen at the Val-de-Grace. He had enriched himself, and his fortune had procured illustrious alliances for his daughters. An outcry was raised against him, and his dismissal was demanded from every side. Two things saved him. First, his successor could not be agreed upon. Châteauneuf was the candidate of the Importants and of Madame de Chevreuse, but President Bailleul, the superintendent of the finances, coveted the place for himself, the Bishop de Beauvais feared such a colleague in the cabinet as Châteauneuf, and the Condés opposed him. Then Séguier had a sister who was very dear to the queen, the Mother Jeanne, superior of the convent of the Carmelites of Pontoise. The virtues of the sister pleaded in favor of the brother, and Montagu, who was wholly devoted to the Mother Jeanne, warmly defended the keeper of the seals.

Madame de Chevreuse, perceiving that it was almost impossible to surmount so strong an opposition, took another road whereby to arrive at the same end; she contented herself with asking the smallest place in the cabinet for her friend, knowing that once there, Châteauneuf would know how to accomplish the rest, and to elevate his position. President Bailleul, superintendent of the finances, having shown an inferior capacity for this place, it became necessary to give him a new assistant when the Count d'Avaux, with whom he shared the duties of the office, went to Munster. Madame de Chevreuse insinuated to the queen that she could easily introduce Châteauneuf into the council by appointing him the successor of D'Avaux, a modest position which could not excite the distrust of Mazarin; but the latter understood the manœuvre and baffled it. He easily persuaded the queen to