the Archbishop of Sens, and the Jesuit Berulle to the King
with an offer to that effect. Louis received her envoys with great
courtesy, and declared himself ready to make every concession as
regarded Marie personally, and even to extend his pardon to the Comte
and Comtesse de Soissons; but he peremptorily refused to include the
other disaffected nobles in the amnesty; when the Queen, on her side,
declined every arrangement which involved the abandonment of her
followers; and thus the negotiation failed in its object, while the
royal army continued to advance.[54]

On reaching La Fleche the King convened a council, at which it was
proposed to besiege the city of Angers; but Louis, who was aware of the
plot that had been formed between De Luynes and Richelieu, declared that
his respect for his mother would not permit him to attack a town in
which she had taken up her abode; while he even instructed the Duc de
Bellegarde to propose to her fresh conditions of peace, and to assure
her that his intention in approaching so near to her stronghold was
simply to secure an interview, and to induce her to return with him to
the capital.

This assurance produced the desired effect upon Marie de Medicis, who
was becoming alike wearied and disgusted by the perilous position in
which she had been placed by the unexpected energy of her son; and she
consequently hastened to sign the treaty. But the concession came too
late. On the previous day, Bassompierre, Crequy, and several other
officers of rank marched to Sorges, within a league of the Fonts de Ce,
at the head of their men, for the mere purpose of skirmishing; they,
however, met with no opposition, and they finally reached the bridge,
where five thousand troops of the Queen-mother were entrenched. These
they attacked; and at the third charge the whole body fled in such
confusion that the royal forces entered with them pell-mell into the
city. The command of the fort had been given to the Duc de Retz, who,
apprised by the Cardinal his uncle that the Queen-mother had been
betrayed, hastily effected his escape, and the castle was surrendered at
the first summons. In vain did the Duc de Bellegarde represent that the
town had been taken after the Queen had signed the treaty of
reconciliation, and complain that this outrage had been committed
subsequently to the conclusion of a peace proposed by the sovereign; the
Prince de Conde, desirous of mortifying Marie de Medicis, only replied