8 COUNT AND COUNTESS FRONTENAC. [165.3. 



Madame de Sully assented, and we went out. I 

 called Prefontaine, and asked him, i What was 

 Frontenac saying to you ? ' He answered : 6 He 

 was scolding me. I never saw such an impertinent 

 man in m} r life.' I went to my room, and Madame 

 de Sully and Madame de Fiesque followed. Ma- 

 dame de Sully said to Prefontaine : ' I was very 

 much disturbed to see you talking with so much 

 warmth to Monsieur de Frontenac ; for he came 

 here in such ill-humor that I was afraid he would 

 quarrel with you. Yesterday, when we were in the 

 carriage, he was ready to eat us.' The Comtesse 

 de Fiesque said, i This morning he came to see my 

 mother-in-law, and scolded at her.' Prefontaine 

 answered : ' He wanted to throttle me. I never 

 saw a man so crazy and absurd.' We all four began 

 to pity poor Madame de Frontenac for having such 

 a husband, and to think her right in not wanting 

 to go with him." l 



Frontenac owned the estate of Isle Savary, on 

 the Inclre, not far from Blois ; and here, soon after 

 the above scene, the princess made him a visit. 

 "It is a pretty enough place," she says, "for a 

 man like him. The house is well furnished, and 

 he gave me excellent entertainment. He showed 

 me all the plans he had for improving it, and mak- 

 ing gardens, fountains, and ponds. It would need 

 the riches of a superintendent of finance to execute 

 his schemes, and how anybody else should ven- 

 ture to think of them I cannot comprehend." 



" While Frontenac was at St. Fargeau," she 



1 Memoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier, II. 267. 



