Winter 1604-1608

Devastated by his wife's tragic death, the recently widowed Marquis Guigues Levieux d'Albon returned to his old habits.He started spending incalculable sums of money at the French Royal Court, gambling, sleeping with different women (from noble ladies with immaculate reputations to the last prostitute).He regained his scandalous reputation in a few months.

Worried about his sanity and even physical health (but more worried for the Marquis' fortune), his friends convinced him to accept a young lady from the Court as his wife.

Marie Victoire de Noailles arrived at her husband's countryside domains in a late winter evening, tired and bored from the long tramp between Paris and Poitou.But the sludge where her heels sinked from her first step outside the carriage and the disturbing odor were not exactly welcome committee that she expected to see.

Her husband, now dressed as a normal poor nobleman from the countryside welcomed her with a frown and an insult about her inappropriate vestment for such a long voyage.Of course, the late hour when she arrived and all the mess that her valets created when they started unloading the carriage and store her chests and furniture, plus the fact that the noise woke up and scared the numerous children didn't create the best impression about the newcomer lady of the house.

Marie Victoire's first night in that castle wasn't far better.Her feet were cold and painful from the long journey and her husband's attitude didn't seem to improve too much from the moment she arrived.

The next few weeks were a series of disappointments.There weren't enough servants in the castle, the existent servants were lazy and more like a bunch of ill-mannered peasant than a valet and the children were all bad mannered and too noisy, by Marie Victoire's standards.

Guigues didn't seem to hear his wife complaining about everything and spent most of his time locked in the study room.In a couple of years she was going to change ... he calmly thought, comparing the spoiled little new Marquise with the elegant, yet temperate Gotelana.

By the moment Marie Victoire seemed to surrender and accept the livelihood there, the couple received an invitation at the Royal Court.

In the midst of luxury her husband looked completely changed: his smile was again charming and his attitude became mysterious and elegant.He flirted with many women but spent most of his time in his wife's company, allowing her any indulgence.They spent three months like this and, by the time they returned, Marie Victoire was more in love with her husband than anytime in her life.She was also very pregnant.

In 1608 she gave birth to two beautiful twin girls, Isabelle and Sophie.