At a masked ball on Shrove Tuesday, 1742, Richelieu led Marie Anne up to the king and introduced them. The beautiful marquise, however, at first rejected the royal advances. She already had a lover, the young duc d'Agénois, and was not inclined to give him up even for the king's sake. As a result, the king conspired with Richelieu, who was the duc d'Agénois' uncle, to rid himself of the young suitor. Richelieu was quite anxious to do anything to bring about a liaison between the king and Madame de La Tournelle, because he knew that Madame de Mailly did not view him in a kindly light. The result of their deliberations was that the king, in imitation of the biblical David, sent his rival to fight the Austrians in Italy during the War of the Austrian Succession. The young duke was seriously wounded at the siege of Château-Dauphin (1744). Unlike the husband of Bathsheba, however, the duc d'Agénois recovered from his injuries and returned to the court in glory.