oreover, he had been
instructed by the Spanish Cabinet to exert all his best energies to win
over the Prince to his interests;[120] a suggestion upon which he acted
so skilfully that the little Court of Lorraine became a perpetual scene
of festivity and amusement, of which the frivolous and fickle Gaston was
at once the object and the centre. Nor was there wanting in the ducal
circle an attraction even greater than the splendid _fetes_ and
brilliant assemblies at which Monsieur fluttered and feasted in all the
triumph of his weak and selfish nature. The Princesse Marguerite, the
younger sister of M. de Lorraine, soon weaned the changeful fancy of
Gaston from the persecuted Marie de Gonzaga; nor had he long resided at
Nancy before his marked attentions to the beautiful and accomplished
Princess became the subject of general comment.[121]

This state of things seriously alarmed the Cardinal, who, in addition to
his hatred of the Guises, apprehended the worst consequences should the
Prince be permitted thus to emancipate himself from the royal authority,
and to play the quasi-sovereign with impunity; and, accordingly, only a
few weeks after the establishment of Gaston in Lorraine, he sent the
Cardinal de Berulle and the Duc de Bellegarde to Nancy to negotiate his
return. Aware of his advantage, however, the Prince showed no
inclination to yield to the solicitations of the minister; and demanded
in the event of his compliance a provincial government in appanage.
Rendered more and more anxious by this pertinacity, Richelieu, even
while refusing to concede the required boon, heaped offer upon offer
without effect, until the Marechal de Marillac, more successful than the
two previous envoys, induced Gaston to accept as a substitute for the
government which he demanded the fortresses of Orleans and Amboise, with
a hundred thousand livres a year, and fifty thousand crowns in ready
money. An agreement to this effect was drawn up; after which Monsieur
pledged himself to return to Court, and to submit in all things to the
pleasure of the King and the Queen-mother; an idle promise, where his
hostility to the minister constantly urged him to opposition; but which
served to tranquillize the mind of Louis, who, being about once more to
renew the war in Italy, was desirous of securing peace within his
own capital.

Immediately after the departure of the Cardinal from Susa, the armies of
Austria and Spain had advanced to the centre of I