Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/122

108 knew not what to think of so many flatteries and so much reserve. They sometimes jestingly asked each other which of the two he wanted; and as he made no advances, though all the while continuing his gallant protestations, "these ladies," says Mazarin, "conclude thence that I am impotent." This play lasted some time, but ended naturally on being carried into politics. Madame de Chevreuse grew impatient at obtaining nothing but words instead of any thing tangible and decisive. She had received a little money for herself either in reimbursement of that which she had formerly loaned the queen, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, or for the acquittal of the debts contracted during her exile and in the interest of Anne of Austria. At an early period, she had taken her friend and protégé, Alexandre de Campion, from the service of the Vendômes to place him in a suitable position in the household of the queen. Châteauneuf had been reinstated in his office of chancellor of the royal orders, and his former government of Touraine was afterwards restored to him, after the death of the Marquis de Gèvres, who was slain in the month of August, before Thionville. But