By confession of all historians, she alone saved the city for the Fronde,
and, for the moment, secured that party the ascendency in the nation. Next
day the advance-guard of the royal forces appeared,--a day too late.
Mademoiselle made a speech (the first in her life) to the city government;
then went forth to her own small army, by this time drawn near, and held
another council. The next day she received a letter from her father,
(whose health was now decidedly restored,) declaring that she had "saved
Orleans and secured Paris, and shown yet more judgment than courage." The
next day Conde came up with his forces, compared his fair cousin to
Gustavus Adolphus, and wrote to her that "her exploit was such as she only
could have performed, and was of the greatest importance."
Mademoiselle staid a little longer at Orleans, while the armies lay
watching each other, or fighting the battle of Bleneau, of which Conde
wrote her an official bulletin, as being generalissimo. She amused herself
easily, went to mass, played at bowls, received the magistrates, stopped
couriers to laugh over their letters, reviewed the troops, signed
passports, held councils, and did many things "for which she should have
thought herself quite unfitted, if she had not found she did them very
well." The enthusiasm she had inspired kept itself unabated, for she
really deserved it.
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