iii.] "The sad news was brought to the Duke of Orleans, who was playing abbot; he did not leave the game, and went on as if instead of death he had heard of deliverance." An example of cruelty which might well have discouraged the friends of the Duke of Orleans "from dying a martyr's death for him" like the unhappy Chalais.
It has been said that Richelieu was neither meddlesome nor cruel, but that he was stern and pitiless; and he gave proof of that the following year, on an occasion when his personal interests were not in any way at stake.

At the outset of his ministry, in 1624, he had obtained from the king a severe ordinance against duels--a fatal custom which was at that time decimating the noblesse.
[Illustration: Double Duel----188] Already several noblemen, amongst others M.du Plessis-Praslin, had been deprived of their offices or sent into exile in consequence of their duels, when M.de Bouteville, of the house of Montmorency, who had been previously engaged in twenty-one affairs of honor, came to Paris to fight the Marquis of Beuvron on the _Place Royale_.

The Marquis's second, M.
de fussy d'Amboise, was killed by the Count of Chapelles, Bouteville's second.

Beuvron fled to England.

M.de Bouteville and his comrade had taken post for Lorraine; they were recognized and arrested at Vitry-le- Brule and brought back to Paris; and the king immediately ordered Parliament to bring them to trial.