One day the King, recovering suddenly from an attack of insanity, and finding everything in a state of confusion and discomfort, began to inquire the meaning of this condition of things. The Queen and the Duc d’Orléans were away, so he questioned the governess of the Dauphin, who told him that she really could not get proper clothes and scarcely proper food for the Dauphin and his brothers and sisters, that the Queen would not attend to the matter, and she did not know what to do. Charles was exceedingly angry and grieved, for he was very fond of his children, and he sent for the Dauphin and asked him if it were true. The boy hesitated, but after a little persuasion told his father that it was, only that his mother had by caresses and entreaties made him promise not to tell his father. Charles then asked him how long it was since he had been with his mother, to which he replied, about three months. The King thanked the governess for her faithfulness, begged her to take care of the children, gave her a gold cup he had been drinking from to reward her services, promising to do more for her afterwards. Then he called a council and sent for the Duke of Burgundy.[212]
The Queen and the Duc d’Orléans, when they heard he was coming, fled to Melun and fortified themselves there; which was easy enough as it was a very strong place on an island in the Seine. It had been the headquarters of the party of Navarre, as it had belonged to Queen Blanche in the reign of Jean and Charles V.[213]
In order to prevent the Dauphin from falling into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, they sent word to Ludwig of Bavaria, the Queen’s brother, to bring not only him but the children of Burgundy also, to the Queen’s country house at Pouilly, where they went to wait for them. But the Parisians got to hear of it, and sent in haste to meet the Duke of Burgundy and tell him to come as fast as he could, for the Queen had sent for the Dauphin and they were afraid she was going to take him to Germany. Jean Sans-peur, at the head of a strong body of armed men, pushed on at full speed, but found when he got there that they had already started. He rode after them and caught them up at about a league and a half from Paris. They had been taken by boat to Vitry and had slept at Villejuif. It was pouring with rain. The Duke of Bavaria represented that the Queen had sent for the children and begged the Duke of Burgundy, who had much the stronger party of the two, not to prevent his obeying her orders. The Duke of Burgundy rode up to the Dauphin’s litter, and, opening the _portière_, asked him if it were by his own free will that he had left Paris. The Dauphin replied that he would much rather go back there to his father; upon which the Duke of Burgundy ordered him to return at once, and himself took hold of the bridles of the horses and turned them back towards Paris. The Duke of Bavaria accompanied him, and the Dauphin was soon lodged in the Louvre while the Duke of Burgundy fortified himself in his hôtel d’Artois.