6 COUNT AND COUNTESS FRONTENAC. [1048. 



with one child, a daughter of sixteen, whom he 

 had placed in the charge of his relative, Madame 

 de Bouthillier. Frontenac fell in love with her. 

 Madame de Bouthillier opposed the match, and 

 told La Grange that he might do better for his 

 daughter than to marry her to a man who, say 

 what he might, had but twenty thousand francs a 

 year. La Grange was weak and vacillating : some- 

 times he listened to his prudent kinswoman, and 

 sometimes to the eager suitor ; treated him as a 

 son-in-law, carried love messages from him to his 

 daughter, and ended by refusing him her hand, and 

 ordering her to renounce him on pain of being im- 

 mured in a convent. Neither Frontenac nor his 

 mistress was of a pliant temper. In the neigh- 

 borhood was the little church of St. Pierre aux 

 Bceufs, which had the privilege of uniting couples 

 without the consent of their parents ; and here, on 

 a Wednesday in October, 1648, the lovers were 

 married in presence of a number of Frontenac's 

 relatives. La Grange was furious at the discovery ; 

 but his anger soon cooled, and complete reconcilia- 

 tion followed. 1 



The happiness of the newly wedded pair was 

 short. Love soon changed to aversion, at least on 

 the part of the bride. She was not of a tender 

 nature ; her temper was imperious, and she had a 

 restless craving for excitement. Frontenac, on his 

 part, was the most wayward and headstrong of 

 men. She bore him a son ; but maternal cares 



i Historiettes de Tallemant des B.€aux, IX. 214 (eel. Monmerque) ; Jal, 

 Dictionnaire Critique, etc. 



