was admitted by all by whom it was examined to be strictly legal in
form, and to authorize her in demanding its ratification. Unlike that
which she had previously extorted from Henri IV, the promise which the
Marquise now produced was not only signed by M. de Guise himself, but
also by two notaries, a priest, and several witnesses. Unfortunately,
however, whether by accident, or intention on the part of the Duke, both
the notaries by whom it had been attested were aged men, one of whom had
subsequently died; while the other had become so imbecile that when
interrogated upon the subject, he first doubted, and subsequently
denied, all knowledge of the transaction; but as these contingencies did
not affect the signature of M. de Guise himself, his position was
sufficiently embarrassing; and the rather that, his passion for the
Marquise having been long extinguished, he had become the acknowledged
suitor of the Dowager Duchess of Montpensier.

There can be little doubt that had Henri IV still lived Madame de
Verneuil would have been enabled to enforce her claim, as that monarch
would not have suffered so admirable an opportunity of mortifying the
Guises to have escaped him; and thus individual imprudence would have
afforded him a triumph which the fortune of arms had hitherto denied,
and the most jealous watchfulness failed to secure; but his death had
changed the position of all the parties interested in the affair, and
Marie de Medicis looked upon it with very different feelings. Her old
and still existing hatred of the Marquise was renewed by an exhibition
of arrogance which recalled to memory some of the most bitter moments of
her existence; and her pride as a sovereign was revolted at the prospect
of seeing the woman by whom her peace had been destroyed elevated to the
rank of a Princess of the Blood, and placed beside the very steps of
her throne.

She was, moreover, anxious to limit the power of the Comte de Soissons,
and to prevent the proposed marriage of his son Louis de Bourbon with
the heiress of Montpensier, which would have opened up a still wider
field for his ambition. She accordingly espoused the cause of the Duc de
Guise, who, having no other alternative by which to rid himself of the
Marquise, did not scruple to deny the authenticity of the signature
ascribed to him; and he had no sooner resolutely done this, than the
Regent placed the affair in the hands of the President Jeannin, who with
his usual ab