eceive ample satisfaction for the affront of
which he complained.

In reply, M. de Soissons maintained that he had given no ground for the
apprehensions expressed by the monarch for the safety of his minister,
and that he had never entertained any design to injure the interests of
the sovereign, while the knowledge that his withdrawal from the country
might have such a tendency was a more powerful preventive to his
departure than "though he had been fettered by a hundred chains"; and
that all he required from his adversary was a public acknowledgment of
the offence which he had committed against him.

This concession of the irate Prince was followed by a still greater one
on the part of the minister, who, anxious to relieve the mind of his
royal master from the annoyance which he felt at a quarrel in which
every noble of the Court had taken part, and which threatened to become
still more inveterate from day to day, addressed a letter to M. de
Soissons, wherein, although he explicitly denied "having uttered the
expression which was imputed to him," he overwhelmed the Prince with the
most elaborate and hyperbolical assurances of respect and devotion,
declaring "that he would rather die than so forget himself."

This submissive letter was accepted as an apology, and a hollow peace
between the disputants was thus effected, which restored for a time the
tranquillity of the Court.

On the 2nd of February 1604 the Queen was invited to participate in a
ceremony which, had she been less happy and hopeful than she chanced to
be at that particular period, could not have failed to excite in her
breast fresh feelings of irritation and annoyance. This was the
reception of Alexandre-Monsieur, the second legitimated son of the
monarch and Gabrielle d'Estrees, into the Order of the Knights of Malta.
The King having decided that such should be the career of the young
Prince, was anxious that he should at once assume the name and habit of
the Order, and he accordingly wrote to the Grand Master to request that
he would despatch the necessary patents, which were forwarded without
delay, accompanied by the most profuse acknowledgments on the part of
that dignitary. In order to increase the solemnity and magnificence of
the inauguration, Henry summoned to the capital the Grand Commanders
both of France and Champagne, instructing them to bring in their
respective trains as many other commanders and knights as could be
induced to accompany