nsieur, already annoyed by the disappointment to which
he had been subjected, evinced no disposition to profit by the brief
opportunity thus afforded to him, but proceeded leisurely to Dauphiny;
where he had no sooner arrived than he received information that the
most strenuous efforts had been made immediately after he had left Paris
to hasten the departure of Marie de Gonzaga. Delighted at any pretext
for abandoning the journey to which he had been compelled, he forthwith
retraced his steps; but great as was the haste which he displayed to
reach the capital, the first news by which he was greeted was that the
Queen-mother had caused the Princess of Mantua to be imprisoned in the
fortress of Vincennes.

This extraordinary intelligence was communicated to him by the Marechal
de Marillac, who had succeeded Richelieu in the confidence of Marie de
Medicis; and who endeavoured to palliate the outrage by explaining the
motives which induced her Majesty to take so singular a step. She had
been as M. de Marillac asserted, assured that his Highness had resolved
to carry off Mademoiselle de Gonzaga, and then to leave the kingdom; a
determination by which she was so much alarmed that she had adopted the
only measure which had appeared to her to offer a certain preventive to
so dangerous and unprecedented a proceeding; but Monsieur would listen
to no arguments upon the subject, and withdrew in violent displeasure to
Orleans, whence he despatched one of the officers of his household to
protest against the imprisonment of the Princess, and to demand not only
that she should immediately be set at liberty, but also that she should
not be permitted to leave the country.

The Queen-mother, who was aware that she could not justify a proceeding
which violated all the rights of hospitality, and who was, moreover,
alarmed lest she should incur the lasting animosity of her favourite
son, and thus render herself still more helpless than she had already
become through the defection of Richelieu, found herself compelled to
accede to a request which had in fact assumed the character of a
command; but she, nevertheless, only accorded her consent to the release
of the captive on condition that Monsieur should desist, for a time at
least, in pressing his marriage either with Marie de Gonzaga or any
other Princess until he had received the consent of the King to that
effect; and Gaston having, after some hesitation, agreed to the proposed
terms, th