I said that that would not be easy." The dispute grew warm; the presidents flung themselves between the disputants; Conde yielded to their entreaties, and begged the Duke of La Rochefoucauld to go and tell his friends to withdraw.

The coadjutor went out to make the same request to his friends.

"When he would have returned into the usher's little court," writes Mdlle.

de Montpensier, "he met at the door the Duke of La Rochefoucauld, who shut it in his face, just keeping it ajar to see who accompanied the coadjutor; he, seeing the door ajar, gave it a good push, but he could not pass quite through, and remained as it were jammed between the two folds, unable to get in or out.

The Duke of La Rochefoucauld had fastened the door with an iron catch, keeping it so to prevent its opening any wider.