Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/34

20 and danced; a signal act of folly which opened the eyes of Richelieu, and incensed him greatly. On the twenty-fifth of December, 1633, the keeper of the seals was arrested, and all his papers seized. Fifty-two letters in the handwriting of Madame de Chevreuse were found, in which, under an easily read cypher and through a transparent disguise, the designs of Châteauneuf and the duchess were discovered. There were also many letters from the Chevalier de Jars, Count Holland, Montagu, Puylaurens, Count de Brion, the Duke de Vendôme, and even from the Queen of England. These papers were carried to the cardinal, who preserved them; after his death, they were found in his casket, and thus fell into the hands of the Marshal de Richelieu, who transmitted them to Père Griffet for his Histoire du règne du Louis XIII. An ancient copy is now in the possession of the Duke de Luynes, whose spirit is too noble to seek to screen from history the well-known faults of his illustrious ancestress, especially since these faults bear the stamp of a noble heart and lofty character. We have carefully examined these curious manuscripts, particularly the letters of Madame de Chevreuse. They show that Richelieu was assiduously attentive to her, that he was jealous of M. de Châteauneuf, and that the latter was alarmed by the circumspection which she preserved towards the prime minister, the better to conceal from him their intercourse and plans. We cannot read without interest different passages of these letters, in which we perceive the sprightly yet audacious wit of the duchess, her power over the