she was implicated in the cellamare conspiracy of giulio alberoni against philippe ii, duke of orléans, regent for louis xv of france, and was sent in 1718 to the bastille, where she remained for two years. even here, however, she made conquests, though she was far from beautiful. her own account of her love for her fellow prisoner, the chevalier de ménil, and of the passion of the chevalier de maisonrouge, her gaoler, for her, is justly famous. she returned on her liberation to the service of the duchess, who showed no gratitude for the devotion, approaching the heroic, that mlle delaunay had shown in her cause. she received no promotion and still had to fulfill the wearisome duties of a waiting-maid. she refused, it is said, andré dacier, the widower of a wife more famous than himself, and, in 1735, being then more than fifty, married the baron de staal. her dissatisfaction with her position had become so evident that the duchess, afraid of losing her services, arranged the marriage to give mlle delaunay rank sufficient to allow of her promotion to be on an equality with the ladies of the court.