When all had assembled in the great chamber, and they had begun to
deliberate, the Princess burst in on them, threw herself on her
knees, and began a speech. When she broke off, choked by tears, her
little son fell on his knees and exclaimed: 'Gentlemen, be instead
of a father to me; Cardinal Mazarin has taken away mine!'
Then there was a general weeping, and the Parliament promised the
Princess their protection. There was more hesitation about admitting
the two Dukes, but at last it was done. There were the headquarters
of the army that resisted the Crown. At least this was the principle
on which the Duke of Bouillon acted. His family had from the first
tried to maintain the privileges which the old feudal vassals
attributed to themselves, and he was following up their traditions,
as well as fighting for the deliverance of his wife from her
captivity.
The Duke of Rochefoucauld was throughout more the lover of Madame de
Longueville then anything else, and the Princess of Conde simply
thought of obtaining her husband's release, and nothing else. She had
no notions of State policy nor anything else of the kind, any more
than had Madame d'Aubepine, who assisted daily at her little agitated
court. They were the two gentlest, simplest, weakest conspirators
who ever rebelled against the Crown, and it was all out of pure
loyalty to the two husbands who had never shown a spark of affection,
scarcely of courtesy, to either of them.
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