t, pursued by the royal troops--She is received at Mons by the
Archduchess Isabella--Whence she addresses a letter to the King to
explain the motives of her flight--Reply of Louis XIII--Sympathy of
Isabella--The two Princesses proceed to Brussels--Triumphal entry of
Marie de Medicis into the capital of Flanders--Renewed hopes of the
exiled Queen--The Belgian Ambassador at the French Court--Vindictive
counsels of the Cardinal--The property of the Queen-mother and Monsieur
is confiscated--They are abandoned by many of their adherents--Richelieu
is created a duke--A King and his minister--Marie consents to the
marriage of Monsieur with Marguerite de Lorraine--The followers of the
Queen-mother and the Duc d'Orleans are tried and condemned--Louis XIII
proceeds to Lorraine to prevent the projected alliance of his
brother--Intrigues of Gaston--Philip of Spain refuses to adopt the cause
of Marie de Medicis--Marriage of Monsieur and the Princesse de
Lorraine--The Queen-mother endeavours to negotiate her return to
France--Richelieu determines the King not to consent--Charles de
Lorraine makes his submission to the French monarch--And signs a
compulsory treaty.

In order, as he asserted, to protect the interests of France, Richelieu
had strictly forbidden all further correspondence between Anne of
Austria and her royal brother Philip of Spain; and had further informed
her that she would no longer be permitted to receive the Marquis de
Mirabel, the Spanish Ambassador, who had hitherto been her constant
visitor and the medium of her intercourse with her family. Indignant at
such an interference with her most private feelings, Anne revolted
against a tyranny which aroused her southern pride; and complaining that
the close confinement to which she was subjected at the Louvre had
affected her health, she demanded permission to retire to the Val de
Grace; a proposal which was eminently grateful to the Cardinal, who
desired above all things to separate her from the Queen-mother. She had,
however, no sooner left the palace than she caused M. de Mirabel to be
apprised of the place of her retreat; at the same time informing him
that she should continue to expect his visits, although he must
thenceforward make them as privately as possible. In compliance with
these instructions, the Ambassador alighted from his carriage at some
distance from the Val de Grace, and proceeded on foot to the convent
generally towards the dusk of the evening, b