Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/99

Rh of the country, and escorted by them a league beyond the said Cambrai, where the Sieur d'Hocquincourt received her on the French frontier, and, conducting her to Peronne, of which he was governor, gave her there a magnificent reception. She was visited there by the Duchess de Chaulne, and on the 12th was conducted thence by the Duke de Chaulne to his house, where she was splendidly entertained. Leaving Chaulne the same day, she reached Roye, where she lodged, and on the 13th arrived at Versine, the house of the Sieur de Saint Simon, brother of the duke of the same name, where the Duke de Chevreuse was awaiting her, and where she was received and treated in the same manner. Finally, on the 14th of this month, she reached Paris, ten years after having quitted it; in which absence this princess has shown what a brave spirit like her own can do, despite the strokes of adverse fortune which her constancy has surmounted. She went instantly to salute their majesties, in which visit she received so many tokens of the queen's affection, and gave to her so many proofs of zeal in every thing that related to her interests, and also of entire resignation to her will, that it seems most evident that neither absence, nor distance, nor the cares of business, can effect any change in any but vulgar souls. But the great retinue of court nobles who visit her continually, and fill her spacious palace to overflowing, does not inspire one with so much