een who appealed
to his indulgence; and who, however she might have erred, had bitterly
expiated her faults. Thus then, the Cardinal no sooner saw the agitation
of Louis on reading the letter of the exiled Princess, and marked the
flashing of his eyes as he became aware that she promised, as he had
required of her, to restore the Cardinal to her affection, than the
latter hastened to remind him that he must not overlook the fact that he
was a sovereign as well as a son; and that the safety of the state
required his attention no less than the gratification of his
natural feelings.

This was a point upon which Richelieu knew his royal master to be
peculiarly susceptible; for the more thoroughly the weak monarch
suffered himself to be stripped of his actual authority, the more
anxiety did he evince to retain its semblance, and the argument thus
advanced instantly sufficed, as the minister had anticipated, to change
the whole current of his feelings. It was, moreover, easy to convince
Louis that the professions of Marie de Medicis were hollow and unmeaning
words so long as she refused to deliver up to his Majesty the obnoxious
members of her household; for, in truth, as the Cardinal did not fail to
remark, had not Monsieur abandoned his adherents when required to do so
as a pledge of his sincerity? And as he asked the insidious question,
the distrustful Louis, trembling for his tranquillity, forgot, or did
not care to remember, that the egotism and cowardice of his brother in
thus building up his own fortunes on the ruin of those who had confided
in him, had deeply wounded the dignity of the Queen-mother.

The result of the conference between the King and his minister was an
order to the envoy of Marie de Medicis to repair to the residence of the
Cardinal at Ruel, where he was informed that he would have an audience,
at which both Louis XIII and Richelieu would personally deliver to him
their despatches for his royal mistress. On his arrival at the chateau,
however, he was surprised to find the Cardinal alone, and to learn that
his Majesty was not expected. To counteract this disappointment, De
Laleu was received with such extraordinary distinction that he could not
avoid expressing his astonishment at the honours which were lavished
upon him, when Richelieu, with one of those bland smiles which were ever
at his command, declared that the respect due to the illustrious
Princess whom he served demanded still greater demonst