urely to compass her ultimate disgrace, to
temporize until he should have succeeded in thoroughly compromising her
in the mind of the King; an attempt which her own impetuosity and want
of caution would, as he justly imagined, prove one of little difficulty
after the occurrences of the day.

Thus his first care on returning to his residence at Ruel was to address
a letter to the Queen-mother, couched in the following terms:

"Madame--I am aware that my enemies, or rather those of the state, not
satisfied with blaming me to your Majesty, are anxious to render you
suspicious of my presence at the Court, as though I only approached the
King for the purpose of separating him from yourself, and of dividing
those whom God has united. I trust, however, through the divine
goodness, that the world will soon learn their malice; that my
proceedings will be fully justified; and that innocence will triumph
over calumny. It is not, Madame, that I do not esteem myself unfortunate
and culpable since I have lost the favour of your Majesty; life will be
odious to me so long as I am deprived of the honour of your good graces,
and of that esteem which is more dear and precious to me than the
grandeurs of this earth. As I owe them all to your liberal hand, I bring
them and place them voluntarily at the feet of your Majesty. Pardon,
Madame, your work and your creature. RICHELIEU." [140]

Such was the policy of the astute and heartless minister. Only a few
hours had elapsed since he had overthrown all the most cherished
projects of Marie de Medicis, sown dissension between herself and her
son, proved to her that her efforts to struggle against his superior
influence were worse than idle; and now he artfully sought to excite her
indignation at his duplicity, and to compel her to reprisals which would
draw down upon herself all the odium of their future estrangement. He
well knew that by such a measure as that which he adopted, he must
render her position untenable; for while on the one hand he overwhelmed
her with professions of deference and respect, on the other he wrenched
from her all hope of power, wounded her in her affections, and deprived
her of the confidence of her adherents.[141] Bassompierre attempted to
disguise his mortification at the mistake of which he had himself been
guilty by designating the 11th of November on which these extraordinary
events took place as the "Day of Dupes," while the Queen-mother--whose
great error ha