with the ambitious and mortified
Leonora, who had not been a week at the French Court ere she became
aware that all the Italian followers of the Queen were peculiarly
obnoxious both to the King and his minister; and who felt that should
she fail to push her fortunes upon the instant, she might one day be
compelled to leave France as poor and as powerless as she had entered
it. Not contented, therefore, with urging her royal mistress to
persevere in her resolution of rejecting the attendance of Madame de
Richelieu, she began to speculate upon the most feasible measures to be
adopted in order to secure her own succession to the coveted dignity;
and after considerable reflection, she became convinced that this could
only be accomplished through the assistance of the Marquise de Verneuil.
Once assured of the fact, Leonora did not hesitate; but, instead of
avoiding, as she had hitherto done, the advances of the favourite--who,
aware of her unlimited power over the mind of the Queen, had on several
occasions treated her with a courtesy by no means warranted by her
position at the Court--she began to court the favour of the Marquise in
as marked a manner as she had previously slighted it; and ere long the
intrigue of the two favourites was brought to a successful issue. Each
stood in need of the other, and a compact was accordingly entered into
between them. Madame de Verneuil, whose pride was piqued by her
exclusion from the royal circle, was desirous to gain at any price the
countenance of Marie, and to be admitted to her private assemblies,
where alone she could carry out her more extended plan of ambition;
while the wily Italian, rendered only the more pertinacious by
difficulty, and anxious moreover to secure a post which would at all
times enable her to remain about the person of the Queen, thought no
price too great, even the dishonour of her royal foster-sister, to
obtain her object, and thus a mutual promise was made; the Marquise
pledging herself that, in the event of the Queen recognizing her right
to attend her receptions, and treating her with the courtesy and
consideration due to the rank conferred upon her by the King, she would
effect the appointment courted by Leonora; while the Signora Galigai,
with equal confidence, promised in her turn that she would without
delay cause Madame de Verneuil to receive a summons to the
Queen's presence.

Nor did either of these ladies over-estimate the amount of her
influenc