--Richelieu negotiates the return of Gaston to France--The
favourite of Monsieur--Gaston refuses to annul his marriage--Alfeston is
broken on the wheel for attempting the life of the Cardinal--The
Queen-mother is accused of instigating the murder--The bodyguard
of the Cardinal-Minister is increased--Estrangement of Monsieur
and his mother--Madame endeavours to effect the dismissal of
Puylaurens--Insolence of the favourite--Heartlessness of Monsieur--Marie
solicits permission to return to France--She is commanded as a condition
to abandon her followers, and refuses--Death of the Archduchess
Isabella--Gaston negotiates, and consents to the most humiliating
concessions.

After having forwarded his manifesto to the King, Gaston d'Orleans
proceeded without further delay to the Low Countries, and once more
arrived in Brussels at the close of January 1633, where he was received
by the Spaniards (who had borne all the expenses of his campaign, whence
they had not derived the slightest advantage) with as warm a welcome as
though he had realized all their hopes. The principal nobles of the
Court and the great officers of the Infanta's household were commanded
to show towards him the same respect and deference as towards herself;
he was reinstated in the gorgeous apartments which he had formerly
occupied; and the sum of thirty thousand florins monthly was assigned
for the maintenance of his little Court.[189] One mortification,
however, awaited him on his arrival; as the Queen-mother, unable to
suppress her indignation at his abandonment of her interests, had, on
the pretext of requiring change of air, quitted Brussels on the previous
day, and retired to Malines, whither he hastened to follow her. But,
although Marie consented to receive him, and even expressed her
satisfaction on seeing him once more beyond the power of his enemies,
the wound caused by his selfishness was not yet closed; and she
peremptorily refused to accompany him back to the capital, or to change
her intention of thenceforth residing at Ghent. In vain did Monsieur
represent that he was compelled to make every concession in order to
escape the malice of the Cardinal, and to secure an opportunity of
rejoining her in Flanders; whenever the softened manner of the
Queen-mother betrayed any symptom of relenting, a word or a gesture from
Chanteloupe sufficed to render her brow once more rigid, and her
accents cold.

As the unhappy exile had formerly been ruled by