n the Cardinal de Richelieu my
earnest desire to return to France by his interposition; but all my
attempts have been useless. I have received no reply."

"Madame," interposed Bellievre, "I humbly entreat of your Majesty to
permit me to explain that although I have the honour to be the
representative of my sovereign at this Court, I am not authorized to
appear in that character towards yourself. It is possible that your
Majesty has the intention of entrusting me with some message, in which
case I entreat of you to excuse me when I decline to undertake its
transmission. I have express orders not to interfere in anything
connected either with the person or with the concerns of your Majesty."

"You have probably not been forbidden to hear what I desire to say,"
exclaimed the Queen, with a burst of her former spirit.

"I confess it, Madame," conceded the ambassador; "but since I was not
commanded to do so, I beg that I may be forgiven should I decline to
obey you in the event of your requiring me to make any written
communication from yourself to the King my master."

"Enough!" said Marie de Medicis, with a gesture of impatience. "Listen.
The afflictions which I have undergone since I took refuge in the Low
Countries have inspired me with very different feelings from those with
which I left Compiegne. I beg you to inform the Cardinal that I entreat
of him to deliver me from the miserable position in which I now find
myself, and from the bitter necessity of soliciting my bread from my
sons-in-law. I desire to be once more near the King. I do not ask for
either power or authority; all that I require is to pass the remainder
of my days in peace, and in preparing myself for death. If the Cardinal
cannot obtain the permission of the King for my return to Court, let him
at least request that I may be allowed to reside in some city within the
kingdom, and be restored to the possession of my revenues. I offer to
dismiss from my household all such individuals as may be obnoxious to
his Majesty, and to obey him in all things without comment. His orders
and the advice of the Cardinal shall regulate my conduct. This is all
that I require you to communicate to the latter; as I fear that those to
whom I have hitherto addressed myself have been deficient either in
courage or in will to perform the errand entrusted to them."

Bellievre hesitated for a moment. There was a tearful tremor in the
voice of the persecuted Princess which it r