inted with the fact of her mock trial and her execution in
effigy in one of the public thoroughfares of Paris. The disgrace which,
as she believed, would thenceforward attach to her name, not only
wounded her sense of womanly dignity, but also broke her heart, and a
rapid consumption deprived the unhappy Queen-mother of one of the most
devoted of her friends.

It can scarcely be matter of surprise that, rendered desperate by her
accumulated disappointments and misfortunes, Marie de Medicis at this
moment welcomed with avidity the suggestions of Chanteloupe, who urged
her to revenge upon the Cardinal the daily and hourly mortifications to
which she was exposed. At first she hearkened listlessly to his
counsels, for she was utterly discouraged; but ere long, as he unfolded
his project, she awoke from her lethargy of sorrow, and entered with
renewed vigour into the plan of vengeance which he had concerted.
Whether it were that she hoped to save the life of Montmorency, of whose
capture she had been informed, or that she trusted to effect her own
return to France by placing herself in a position to make conditions
with Richelieu, it is at least certain that she did not hesitate to
subscribe to his views, and to lend herself to the extraordinary plot of
the reverend Oratorian.

"Your Majesty is aware," said Chanteloupe, "that Monsieur has not dared
to avow his marriage with the Princesse Marguerite; and I have sure
information that the minister who endeavoured to effect a union between
his favourite niece and the Cardinal de Lorraine without success, has
now the audacity to lift his eyes to your own august son. The Queen is
childless, and Richelieu aspires to nothing less than a crown for La
Comballet."

"_Per Dio!_" exclaimed Marie, trembling with indignation.

"The lady is at present residing in the Petit Luxembourg," pursued the
monk calmly; "in the very hotel given by your Majesty to his Eminence
during the period when he possessed your favour--"

"Given!" echoed the Queen-mother vehemently. "Yes, given as you say, but
on condition that whenever I sought to reclaim it, I was at liberty to
do so on the payment of thirty thousand livres; and have you never heard
what was the result of this donation? When he proved unworthy of my
confidence I demanded the restoration of the hotel upon the terms of the
contract, but when the document was delivered into my hands, I
discovered that for livres he had substituted crowns, an