der to
the Marquise, who, as though she had only awaited this relapse to sting
her still more deeply than she had yet done, retorted the slights which
she constantly received by declaring that "the Florentine," as she
insolently designated her royal mistress, was not the legal or lawful
wife of the King, whose written promise, still in her possession, he
was, as she asserted, bound to fulfil should she bear him a son. This
surpassing assurance no sooner reached the ears of Marie de Medicis than
she once more forbade Madame de Verneuil her presence; but the Marquise,
strong in her impunity, merely replied by an epigram, and consoled
herself for her exclusion from the Queen's private circle by assuming
more state and magnificence than before, and by collecting in her
saloons the prettiest women and the most reckless gamblers that the
capital could produce. Thus attracted, the infatuated monarch became her
constant guest; and his neglected wife, in weak health, and with an
agonised heart, saw herself abandoned for a wanton who had set a price
upon her virtue, and who made a glory of her shame.

Poor Marie! whatever were her faults as a woman, they were bitterly
expiated both as a wife and as a mother!

Vain were all the efforts of the King on the one hand and those of
Leonora on the other to terminate this new misunderstanding; the Queen
was coldly resolute, and the Marquise insolently indifferent; nor would
a reconciliation, in all probability, ever again have taken place, had
not the interests of the Mistress of the Robes once more required it,
when her influence over the mind of her royal foster-sister sufficed to
overcome every obstacle.

Among the numerous Florentines who composed the suite of Marie de
Medicis was Concino Concini,[140] a gentleman of her household, whose
extreme personal beauty had captivated the heart of Leonora; while she
saw, as she believed, in his far-reaching ambition and flexile character
the very elements calculated, in conjunction with her own firmer nature
and higher intellect, to lead her on to the most lofty fortunes. It is
probable, however, that had La Galigai continued to attend the Queen in
her original and obscure office of waiting-woman, Concini, who was of
better blood than herself, and who could not, moreover, be supposed to
find any attraction in the diminutive figure and sallow countenance of
his countrywoman, would never have been induced to consent to such an
alliance; but L