; but
after having briefly expressed her readiness to obey the command of the
King, she left her bed; and while doing so, despatched the Marquise de
Senecay, her lady of honour, to tell the unfortunate Marie de Medicis
that she was anxious to see her, as she had an affair of importance to
reveal; while for certain reasons she could not venture to her apartment
until she had herself sent to request her to do so. The Queen-mother,
who knew nothing of the resolution which had been taken, but who was in
hourly apprehension of a renewal of her former sufferings, did not lose
a moment in profiting by the suggestion; and Anne of Austria had no
sooner received the expected summons than she threw on a dressing-gown
and hurried to the chamber of her royal relative, whom she found seated
in her bed, and clasping her knees with her hands in a state of
bewildered agitation. On the entrance of her daughter-in-law, the
unhappy Princess exclaimed in a tone of anguish:

"Ah! my daughter, I am then to die or be made a prisoner. Is the King
about to leave me here? What does he intend to do with me?'

"Anne of Austria, bathed in tears, could only reply by throwing herself
into the arms of the helpless victim; and for a while they wept together
in silence.

"The wife of Louis had, however, little time to spend in speechless
sympathy, and ere long she communicated to Marie de Medicis the cruel
resolution of the King, and conjured her to bear her banishment with
patience until they should be revenged upon their common enemy, the
Cardinal. They then parted with mutual expressions of sympathy and
affection; and, as it ultimately proved, they never met again." [149]

During the course of this brief and melancholy interview, the young
Queen, with the assistance of her royal mother-in-law, completed her
toilet; and then after their hurried leavetaking hastened to rejoin the
King, who had already evinced great impatience at her delay. But however
consoled she might have been by her own escape on this occasion, Anne of
Austria was nevertheless condemned to suffer her share of humiliation,
for she had no sooner reached the Convent than Louis formally presented
to her Madame de la Flotte as her First Lady of Honour, and her
grand-daughter Mademoiselle de Hautefort as her next attendant; while
upon her expressing her astonishment at such an arrangement, she was
informed that the Comtesse du Fargis, who was replaced by Madame de la
Flotte, had been