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It was in the very presence of the dead Scarron that Ninon was
informed of the danger threatening St Evrémond. A lettre de cachet
had been issued for conveying him to the Bastille, for the offence he
had given in writing some satirical verses on the Peace of the
Pyrenees. St Evrémond was very far from standing alone in his
opinions on this treaty carried through by Mazarin; but he was
unapproachable in the expression of them. Biting invective and
caustic wit at the cardinal’s expense were graven in every line of his
couplets, addressed to the Marquis de Créqui. Nor did the mockery
cease at that point; it ridiculed the royal marriage itself, and the king
was furious. This was the second time that St Evrémond had
incurred the displeasure of Mazarin; on the first occasion, a
reconciliation had been patched up, after a three months’ sojourn for
St Evrémond in the Bastille, but this time he was past forgiveness—
possibly, as it has been surmised, that in addition to the verses, he
had given secret offence to the Court—and it was now but a matter
of tracking St Evrémond to his hiding-place; for he had been warned
of the letter of arrest for shutting him up in the Bastille, probably this
time for the rest of his life. He had found refuge in the convent of the
Capucins du Roule; but already his goods and money were
confiscated, and it was Ninon who carried him, from her own
resources, the necessary notes and gold for his getting away under
cover of the night to Havre, where he arrived safely, and took ship for
Dover, never to return to France.
The Majesty of Louis XIV. was as a thing divine; and the faintest
shadow could not be permitted to cross the glory of that sun he
chose for his double-mottoed device. Cardinal Mazarin, now at the
point of death, renewed his counsel to the young king never to let will
thwart his, but ever to bear the sceptre in his hand—in his own hand
alone. So Mazarin, dealing his parting thrust of revenge on the
queen-regent, died in the castle of Vincennes, unregretted by any,
tolerated of later years, but despised by all. Someone made his
epitaph, whose concluding lines were to the effect that having
cheated and deceived through life, he ended with cheating the devil
himself, since, when he came to fetch away his soul, he found he
had not one.
Madame Scarron, after her husband’s death, decided to live in the
same apartments, in preference to the home which Ninon offered her
in her own house. The widow’s friends obtained for her a pension of
two thousand livres, and she continued the old réunions, and soon
recovered from the loss she had sustained; for Françoise d’Aubigné
was ever distinguished by her calm, equable temperament.
After the fête at Vaux, Monsieur Fouquet, continuing his attentions
to Mademoiselle de la Baume, finally asked her hand in marriage of
her parents. They were well pleased, especially her father. Madame
de la Baume would have seemed more to favour another destiny for
her daughter. The king was enraged on learning the superintendent’s
proposal, but Fouquet braved the royal displeasure, and intended to
take his bride to Holland. So the man proposed; but the Fates had
otherwise disposed. Within a few hours, a letter was brought him; he
broke the seal hurriedly, recognising the beloved handwriting, and
when he had read the letter—but two lines long—he sank back in his
chair as if a thunder-stroke had smitten him.