de Montpensier, who detested Anne of Austria and Mazarin, and would have liked to marry the king, had boldly taken the side of the princes; the court had just arrived at Blois, on the 27th of March, 1652; the keeper of the seals, Mole, presented himself in front of Orleans to summon the town to open its gates to the king; at that very moment arrived Mdlle., the great Mdlle., as she was then called; and she claimed possession of Orleans in her father's name.

"It was the appanage of Monsieur; but the gates were shut and barricaded.

After they had been told that it was I," writes Mdlle., "they did not open; and I was there three hours.

The governor sent me some sweetmeats, and what appeared to me rather funny was that he gave me to understand that he had no influence.

At the window of the sentry-box was the Marquis d'Halluys, who watched me walking up and down by the fosse.