^ COUNT AND COUNTESS FRONTENAC. [1652. 



war of the Fronde. Her cousin Concle, chief of the 

 revolt, had found favor in her eyes ; and she had 

 espoused his cause against her cousin, the king. 

 The royal army threatened Orleans. The duke, 

 her father, dared not leave Paris; but he con- 

 sented that his daughter should go in his place to 

 hold the city for Conde and the Fronde. 



The princess entered her carriage and set out 

 on her errand, attended by a small escort. With 

 her were three young married ladies, the Marquise 

 cle Breaute, the Comtesse de Fiesque, and the 

 Comtesse de Frontenac. In two days they reached 

 Orleans. The civic authorities were afraid to de- 

 clare against the king, and hesitated to open the 

 gates to the daughter of their duke, who, standing 

 in the moat with her three companions, tried per- 

 suasion and threats in vain. The prospect was not 

 encouraging, when a crowd of boatmen came up 

 from the river and offered the princess their ser- 

 vices. " I accepted them gladly," she writes, 

 " and said a thousand fine things, such as one must 

 say to that sort of people to make them do what 

 one wishes." She gave them money as well as 

 fair words, and begged them to burst open one of 

 the gates. They fell at once to the work ; while 

 the guards and officials looked down from the 

 walls, neither aiding nor resisting them. " To 

 animate the boatmen by my presence," she con- 

 tinues, " I mounted a hillock near by. I did not 

 look to see which way I went, but clambered 

 up like a cat, clutching brambles and thorns, and 

 jumping over hedges without hurting myself. 



