been admitted to minor Orders, but there was no necessity for him to
proceed any farther unless higher promotion should be accorded to him
in recompense of his brother's services. He was a gentle, amiable
being, not at all fit to take care of himself; and since the death of
his mother, he had been the charge of his brother and sister-in-law, or
perhaps more correctly speaking, of the Dowager Marquise de Varennes,
for all the branches of the family lived together in the Hotel de
Varennes at Paris, or its chateau in the country, and the fine old lady
ruled over all, her son and son-in-law being often absent, as was the
case at present.

A fresh European war had been provoked by the ambition of the second
wife of Philip V. of Spain, the Prince for whose cause Berwick had
fought. This Queen, Elizabeth Farnese, wanted rank and dominion for
her own son; moreover, Philip looked with longing eyes at his native
kingdom of France, all claim to which he had resigned when Spain was
bequeathed to him; but now that only a sickly child, Louis XV., stood
between him and the succession in right of blood, he felt his rights
superior to those of the Duke of Orleans. Thus Spain was induced to
become hostile to France, and to commence the war known as that of the
Quadruple Alliance.

While there was still hope of accommodation, the Comte de Bourke had
been sent as a special envoy to Madrid, and there continued even after
the war had broken out, and the Duke of Berwick, resigning all the
estates he had received from the gratitude of Philip V., had led an
army across the frontier.

The Count had, however, just been appointed Ambassador to Sweden, and
was anxious to be joined by his family on the way thither.