The Duchess of Maine, who had not the least inclination thereto, said, 'Yes, that is very amusing.' 'O! it is enough to make you die of laughing,' he resumed; 'fancy those folks who thought their affair was quite a secret; here's one who tells more than he is asked, and names everybody by name!'" The agony was prolonged for some days; jokes were beginning to be made about it at the Duchess of Maine's; she kept friends with her to pass the night in her room, waiting for her arrest to come.

Madame de Stael was reading Machiavelli's conspiracies.
"Make haste and take away that piece of evidence against us," said Madame du Maine, laughingly, "it would be one of the strongest." The arrest came, however; it was six A.M., and everybody was asleep, when the king's men entered the Duke of Maine's house.

The Regent had for a long time delayed to act, as if he wanted to leave everybody time to get away; but the conspirators were too scatter-brained to take the trouble.
The duchess was removed to Dijon, within the government, and into the very house of the Duke of Bourbon, her nephew, which was a very bitter pill for her.

The Duke of Maine, who protested his innocence and his ignorance, was detained in the Castle of Dourlans in Picardy.

Cellamare received his passports and quitted France.