other of a prince; but Marie de Medicis possessed
no claims on their forbearance, and they did not hesitate to attribute
to her views and designs which she was too powerless to entertain.

At this period the Queen-mother was subjected to the mortification of
learning that M. de Bellievre, the ambassador-extraordinary of her son
at the Court of England, had received stringent instructions to abstain
from all demonstration of courtesy towards her person; and even to avoid
finding himself in her presence, whenever the etiquette of his position
would permit of his absenting himself from the royal circle; a command
which he so scrupulously obeyed, that although, in her anxiety to enlist
him in her cause, she had more than once endeavoured to address him, she
had constantly failed; until Lord Holland, at her entreaty, on one
occasion contrived to detain him in the great gallery at Whitehall,
where Marie de Medicis entered accompanied by the King and Queen.

As the royal party passed near him, Bellievre bowed low, without looking
towards the mother of his sovereign. Escape was impossible; and he
consequently remained silent and motionless.

"Monsieur l'Ambassadeur," said a well-remembered voice, "I wish to
exchange a few words with you."

Charles and Henriette moved on; Lord Holland withdrew; and the
Queen-mother at length found herself face to face with the French envoy,
who had no alternative but to assume an attitude of profound respect,
and to extricate himself from this unexpected difficulty as best
he might.

Marie de Medicis was painfully agitated. Her future fate in all
probability hinged upon this long-coveted interview, and some seconds
elapsed before she could utter a syllable. She continued standing,
although her emotion compelled her to lean for support upon a table; and
Bellievre, courtier though he was, could scarcely have looked unmoved
upon the wreck of pride and power thus placed before him. Years and
sorrows had furrowed the lofty brow, and dimmed the flashing eyes, of
the once beautiful Tuscan Princess, but she still retained all that
dignity of deportment for which she was celebrated on her arrival in her
adopted country. She was a fugitive and an exile, but she was yet every
inch a Queen; and her very misfortunes invested her with an interest
which no true and honest heart could fail to feel.

"Sir," she said at length, "I have for some time past endeavoured by
every means in my power to impress upo