that the messenger should have made greater haste to deliver so
important a document, as the King's officers were not called upon to
divine the nature of the Queen's decision.[55]

On the following day Louis himself entered Ponts de Ce, where he was
surprised to find the shops open, and the inhabitants as quietly
pursuing their avocations as though no rumour of war had reached their
ears. The shouts of "Vive le Roi!" were as energetic as those of "Vive
la Reine!" had been only a few weeks previously; and thus, through the
selfish treason of two ambitious and unprincipled individuals, Marie de
Medicis, who at once felt that all further opposition must be
fruitless, saw the powerful faction which it had cost her so much
difficulty and so hard a struggle to combine, totally overthrown, and
herself reduced, even while she still possessed an army of thirty
thousand men in Poitou, Angoumois, and Guienne, to accept such
conditions as it might please the King to accord to her.

Bewildered by the defeat of her troops and the loss of Ponts de Ce, the
unhappy Queen resolved to effect her escape, and to throw herself on the
protection of the Ducs de Mayenne and d'Epernon; but this project was
defeated by Richelieu, who lost no time in communicating her intentions
to the favourite; and parties of cavalry were in consequence thrown out
in every direction to oppose her passage. Apprised of this precaution,
although unconscious of its origin, Marie perceived that she had no
alternative save submission; and she accordingly declared herself ready
to obey the will of the King, whatever might be its nature; an assurance
to which Louis replied that he was ready to receive her with open arms,
and to grant her requests in so far as they regarded herself personally,
although he was resolved to prove to the leaders of her faction that he
was the master of his own kingdom.[56]

On the conclusion of the treaty a meeting was appointed between the King
and his mother at the castle of Brissac, whither he repaired to await
her arrival; and she was no sooner made acquainted with this
arrangement than she hastened to the place of rendezvous, escorted by
five hundred horsemen of the royal army. She was met midway by the
Marechal de Praslin, and a short time afterwards by the Duc de
Luxembourg, at the head of a strong party of nobles, by whom she was
warmly welcomed; and finally, when she was within a few hundred yards of
the castle, Louis himself appe