dissension, and in
which the two Queens ultimately became involved. The young Duc d'Anjou,
whose prepossessing manners and handsome person had rendered him
universally popular, began about this time to awaken the distrust and
jealousy of the King; a feeling which was heightened by the marked
preference evinced by Marie de Medicis for her younger son. The marriage
of the Prince with the wealthy heiress of Montpensier, whose mother had
espoused the Duc de Guise, had long been decided; but as Gaston had
hitherto evinced the utmost indifference towards his destined bride, the
subject had elicited little attention. Suddenly, however, this
indifference gave place to the most marked admiration; and it became
evident that he was seriously contemplating an alliance with the
Princess who had been designed for him by his father. In so trivial and
dissolute a Court as that of France at this period, it is needless to
remark to how many fears and regrets such a resolution immediately gave
birth; nor was it long ere two separate cabals were formed--the one
favouring, and the other seeking to impede, the marriage. Passion and
party-feeling overthrew every barrier of decency and dignity; and from
this moment may be traced that insurmountable aversion which Louis XIII
subsequently exhibited alike towards the Queen his wife and the Prince
his brother.

It no sooner became apparent to the Court circle that the Princesse de
Conti gave perpetual entertainments, in order to afford to Gaston
constant opportunity for conversing with Mademoiselle de Montpensier,
than the enemies of the Guises leagued together to inspire the King with
their own fears, declaring that such an accession of influence as must
accrue to that haughty house by an alliance with the heir-presumptive
threatened the stability of the throne; representations which were
rendered the more powerful by the extraordinary fact that the Duchesse
de Joyeuse, who was herself the wife of a younger brother of the Guises,
and the Marquise de la Valette, whose husband was a near relation of the
Princesse de Montpensier, were both loud in their entreaties that the
brother of the King should not be permitted to contract the alliance
which he contemplated. But while Louis was bewildered by this seeming
contradiction, Richelieu thoroughly appreciated its real motive, being
well aware of the enmity which existed between Mesdames de Joyeuse and
de la Valette and the Princesse de Conti, who had l