Memoirs of Louis XIV, vol 8 | Page 7

than the two Argensons, and with them, was seized with such despair,
that he fell ill that same day. He was carried to the Marechal's house,
but it was impossible to save him. The heart was seized, the blood
diseased, the purples appeared; in four days all was over. The state of
the father and mother may be imagined! The King, who was much
touched by it, did not let them ask or wait for him. He sent one of his
gentlemen to testify to them the share he had in their loss, and
announced that he would give to their remaining son 'what he had
already given to the other. As for the Jesuits, the universal cry against
them was prodigious; but that was all. This would be the place, now
that I am speaking of the Jesuits, to speak of another affair in which
they were concerned. But I pass over, for the present, the dissensions
that broke out at about this time, and that ultimately led to the famous
Papal Bull Unigenitus, so fatal to the Church and to the State, so
shameful far Rome, and so injurious to religion; and I proceed to speak
of the great event of this year which led to others so memorable and so
unexpected.
CHAPTER LVI
But in Order to understand the part I played in the event I have alluded
to and the interest I took in it, it is necessary for me to relate some
personal matters that occurred in the previous year. Du Mont was one
of the confidants of Monseigneur; but also had never forgotten what his
father owed to mine. Some days after the commencement of the second
voyage to Marly, subsequently to the marriage of the Duchesse de
Berry, as I was coming back from the King's mass, the said Du Mont,
in the crush at the door of the little salon of the chapel, took an
opportunity when he was not perceived, to pull me by my coat, and
when I turned round put a finger to his lips, and pointed towards the

gardens which are at the bottom of the river, that is to say, of that
superb cascade which the Cardinal Fleury has destroyed, and which
faced the rear of the chateau. At the same time du Mont whispered in
my car: "To the arbours!" That part of the garden was surrounded with
arbours palisaded so as to conceal what was inside. It was the least
frequented place at Marly, leading to nothing; and in the afternoon even,
and the evening, few people within them.
Uneasy to know what Du Mont wished to communicate with so much
mystery, I gently went towards the arbours where, without being seen, I
looked through one of the openings until I saw him appear. He slipped
in by the corner of the chapel, and I went towards him. As he joined me
he begged me to return towards the river, so as to be still more out of
the way; and then we set ourselves against the thickest palisades, as far
as possible from all openings, so as to be still more concealed. All this
surprised and frightened me: I was still more so when I learned what
was the matter.
Du Mont then told me, on condition that I promised not to show that I
knew it, and not to make use of my knowledge in any way without his
consent, that two days after the marriage of the Duc de Berry, having
entered towards the end of the morning the cabinet of Monseigneur, he
found him alone, looking very serious. He followed Monseigneur,
through the gardens alone, until he entered by the window the
apartments of the Princesse de Conti, who was also alone. As he
entered Monseigneur said with an air not natural to him, and very
inflamed--as if by way of interrogation--that she "sat very quietly
there." This frightened her so, that she asked if there was any news
from Flanders, and what had happened. Monseigneur answered, in a
tone of great annoyance, that there was no news except that the Duc de
Saint-Simon had said, that now that the marriage of the Duc de Berry
was brought about, it would be proper to drive away Madame la
Duchesse and the Princesse de Conti, after which it would be easy to
govern "the great imbecile," meaning himself. This was why he thought
she ought not to be so much at her ease. Then, suddenly, as if lashing
his sides to get into a greater rage, he spoke in a way such a speech
would have deserved, added menaces, said that he would have the Duc

de Bourgogne to fear me, to put me aside, and separate himself entirely
from me. This sort of