Only the sagacity of the king and his minister could have made such a hit; it was well done to have caught Monsieur between touch-and-go (_entre bond et volee_).

The prince, when he knows of this, will be very vexed, though he do not say so, and the count (of Soissons, nephew of Conde) will weep over it with his mother." The hopes of Chalais were deceived.

He had written to the king to confess his fault.

"I was only thirteen days in the faction," he said; but those thirteen days were enough to destroy him.

In vain did his friends intercede passionately for him; in vain did his mother write to the king the most touching letter.