Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/90

76 against Richelieu? Was it not the party of former times, the party of the League of Austria and of Spain? And was not Madame de Chevreuse by her engagements with the Duke of Lorraine, the Queen of England, the Chevalier de Jars at Rome, and the Count-Duke Olivares at Madrid, made one of the chief powers of this party? When, therefore, it was seen to be in motion, it was very natural to suspect the hand of Madame de Chevreuse in all its movements.

But the eye of Richelieu soon pierced the darkness which enveloped it; he saw clearly into the intrigues of the Grand-Equerry whom he had long suspected, and a treason, the secret of which has remained impenetrable to all investigation for two centuries, threw into his hands the treaty that had been concluded with Spain, through the medium of Fontrailles, in the name of Monsieur, of Cinq-Mars, and of the Duke de Bouillon. Thenceforth the cardinal felt assured of victory. He understood Louis XIII.; he knew that he might, in a burst of his fitful and capricious temper, have complained to his favorite of his minister, and even have wished to be delivered from him, and thus have paved the way to dangerous conversation; but he also knew to what degree he was a king and a Frenchman, and devoted to their common system of policy. He hastened, therefore, to send Chavigny to Narbonne with the authentic proofs of the Spanish treaty.