do
so with honour; but this can only be when the King shall have issued a
declaration which may repair the injury done to my administration by
that which he conceded to the Prince de Conde."

The Duke attempted to remonstrate, but he was haughtily silenced; and
thus saw himself compelled to retire from the presence of the irritated
Princess with the conviction that he had utterly failed to produce the
effect anticipated from his mission.[49]

As a last resource the Duc de Montbazon was once more despatched to the
Queen-mother, with full authority to satisfy all her demands, whatever
might be their nature; and also with instructions to warn her that,
should she still refuse to obey the commands of the King, she would be
compelled to do so; while, at the same time, he was commissioned to
announce that Louis was ready to receive her at Tours as he had formerly
done, in order to convince her of his anxiety to terminate their
misunderstanding. This portion of his mission was, however, strongly
combated alike by M. de Conde and the ministers, who saw in it a proof
of weakness unworthy of a great sovereign; but the apprehensions of the
favourite so far outweighed his sense of what was due to the dignity of
his royal master, that he refused to listen to their representations,
and Louis accordingly left the capital, and advanced slowly towards the
province of Angoumois, awaiting the result of this new negotiation.

Marie remained inflexible; Richelieu had not yet accomplished his
object; and the King, who had already reached Orleans, returned to
Paris, to the great triumph of the Queen-mother's faction. Months were
wasted in this puerile struggle, which contrasted strangely with the
important interests which at that period occupied the attention of all
other European sovereigns; and meanwhile the faction of Marie de Medicis
became more formidable from day to day; until, finally, the Prince de
Conde declared his conviction that stringent measures could alone secure
to the monarch any hope of averting the serious consequences with which
he was threatened by the disaffection of his most powerful nobles. De
Luynes was quite ready to adopt this reasoning in order to ensure his
own safety; but it met with earnest opposition from the Cardinal de
Retz, Arnoux, and many others of the favourite's confidential friends,
who dreaded that by the fall of Marie de Medicis, Conde, whose ambitious
views were evident to all, would attain to a de