d that in lieu
of 'whenever she shall desire it,' he had inserted 'when the King shall
desire it.' I remonstrated against this treachery, but I remonstrated in
vain; Louis pronounced against me, and the Cardinal established his
wanton niece in my desecrated mansion, where she has held a Court more
brilliant than that of the mother of her sovereign. Nay," continued the
Queen, with increasing agitation, "the lingering atmosphere of royalty
which yet clings to the old halls has so increased the greatness of the
low-born relative of Jean Armand du-Plessis, that she has deemed it
necessary to destroy one of the walls of my own palace in order to
enlarge the limits of that which she inhabits." [185]

"It were well," said Chanteloupe, with a meaning smile, "to prove to the
lady that it is possible to exist in a more narrow lodging. The King is
absent from Paris. The Luxembourg is thinly peopled; and La Comballet
would serve admirably as a hostage."

"_Veramente, padre mio_," exclaimed Marie de Medicis, bounding from her
seat; "the thing is well imagined, and cannot fail to do us good
service. Richelieu loves his niece--too well, if we are to credit the
scandal-mongers of the Court--and with La Comballet in our hands we may
dictate whatever terms we will. To work, _padre_, to work; there is
little time to lose."

Such was the plot to which the Queen-mother imprudently accorded her
consent; and for a time everything appeared to promise success. The
nephew of Chanteloupe and a confidential valet of Marie herself were
entrusted with the secret, and instructed to make the necessary
arrangements. Relays were prepared between Paris and Brussels, and nine
or ten individuals were engaged to assist in the undertaking.
Carefully, however, as these had been selected, two of their number,
alarmed by the probable consequences of detection, had no sooner arrived
in the French capital than they revealed the plot, and the whole of the
conspirators were committed to the Bastille, while information of the
intended abduction was immediately forwarded to the King. Irritated by
such an attempt, Louis commanded that they should instantly be put upon
their trial; and at the same time he wrote with his own hand to
congratulate Madame de Comballet on her escape, and to assure her that
had she been conveyed to the Low Countries, he would have gone to
reclaim her at the head of fifty thousand men. In return for this
condescension the niece of Richelie