The Press., 1915-06-02
TheCardinal's:
 Enemy A Bit of History That Is
 Also a Romance.
By F. A. MITCHELL


 government of Louis XIII. of France oy Cardinal Richelieu. Louis queen, Anne of Austria, was bitter opponent of the cardinal, and what Richelieu Twas to the king the Duchess of Che Freuse was to the queen. The duchess was one of the most beautiful, the most attractive and the most intriguing wo- men who ever lived.
 After the exposure of reasonable plot the cardinal banished her to LOT raine, where she infatuated the king, Louis KILL, mixing him up in another conspiracy. The cardinals policy for bade him to imprison a woman, so aft er punishment from France had failed he sent Mime. Chevreuse to country estate she owned. There, having no better subject for her fascination, she bewitched an octogenarian official.
 This amusement failing to satisfy her, she turned her attention to an- other intrigue with a view to over throwing the queens and her own de tested enemy, Richelieu.
 At this time the queen was secretly Corresponding with those opposing the cardinal, among them Mime. de Che vreuse The person who conducted this correspondence was one La Porte, her secretary. He was the keeper of her cipher code; translated her letters into 1t, forwarded them to their destination and received the replies, handling them n the same way.
 But the cardinal was watching and suspected the frequent goings and com ings of the man. One of the queens supposed adherents was won over and told La Porte that he was going to Tours, where Mime. de Chevreuse was held in restriction, and asked if he had any message for her. If so he would carry it. La Porte replied that he had letter and would bring 1t to him. While doing so he was arrested with the queens letter on his person and lodged in the Bastille. The letter was not important, but the queen and hef friend had been forbidden to core spond. The cardinal at once ordered the seizure of the private papers of both the queen and the duchess.
 When the queen was accused of trea- son she falsely made an oath that she had not corresponded with any foreign power. Richelieu knew better, and on promise of the kings pardon the queen confessed that she had written her relatives in Madrid and in Brussels, but not on matters of state. La Porte declared that he had carried no letters for the queen except to Mime. de Che vreuse. Fearing that La Porte's state ment and hers would not agree, Anne desired to post him on what she had declared and ask him to make the same statement. This she hoped would satisfy Richelieu and prevent his in- vestigating further.
 | But how reach La Porte in his cell at the Bastille? So carefully watched was he that warden quilted him only for few hours during the day and slept in his cell at night. One of the queens maids of honor and devoted to her, Mile. de Hautfort, not only suggested plan of conveying letter to La Porte, but volunteered to carry it herself. The Chevalier de Jars, who had been Involved in a former conspiracy against the cardinal, was confined in the Bas- tile and occupied a cell directly over that of La Porte, though between the chevalier's and La Porte's cell were two others. It was hoped by the queens adherents that De Jars might find some way of conveying a letter from the queen to La Porte. De Jars had suffered paralytic stroke and was allowed the privileges of an invalid, be- ing permitted to receive friends and xE, s.~k the prison.
 Mlle de Hautfort early one morn ing issued from the palace of the Louvre before the inmates were awake, being dressed in the costume of a maidservant. Mademoiselle's hair, which was luxuriant and beautiful, was concealed under a large coif, and she was robed in a loose gown which concealed her superb figure. Calling fiacre, she was driven to the Bastille, where she asked to see the Chevalier de Jars, saying that she was a lady's maid of a niece of the chevalier and bore message for him.
 The hour was before the prisoners time of rising, and the queens maid of honor was obliged to wait in the guard room among a lot of soldiers of low degree. After some time the chevalier arrived and asked what was wanted. Mademoiselle drew him into the court and, raising her coif, showed him who she was and handed him the queens letter with her majesty's request that he find means to convey 1t to La Porte
 De Jars was no coward, as he had demonstrated in the schemes in which he had embarked to overthrow the car dinal. Nevertheless he hesitated to become mixed up in a scheme which if discovered would cost him his head. But when mademoiselle reminded him of the terrible risk she was herself running he consented.
 The queens messenger returned to the palace without having been discov- cred. De Jars, who was full of re- source, worked out the problem of get ting the queens letter to La Porte Had the latter occupied a cell directly beneath his own he might contrive to get the letter through the floor. But to pass it through other floors was impos- sible. The next cell below the cheva- Hers was occupied by some men who had been implicated ill an insurrection in Bordeaux. The next cell below theirs held the Baron de Tenace and a man named Reveilton, who had been a servant of a nobleman who had lost his head for conspiracy against the sardinal. The chevalier planned to pass the queens letter through these two cells to that of La Porte.
 De Jars enlisted in his service a young fellow named Bois darcy, the valet of prisoner who was confined with his master. Darcy while in at tendance on his master at the hour of exercise found broken stone with a sharp point, which by eluding the ob- servation of the sentinel he managed to slip in his pocket and at the same time asked the aid of the Bordeaux prisoners. Any prisoner was ready to do