elieu, however,
was, as we have shown, little disposed to incur so great a risk; while
the birth of a Dauphin had only tended to strengthen his determination
to keep her out of the country, as the declining health of the King had
opened up a new channel to his ambition; and he had secretly resolved,
should Louis succumb to one of the constantly recurring attacks of his
besetting disease, to cause himself to be proclaimed Regent of the
kingdom. This idea, calmly considered, appears monstrous; not only
because the monarch had not at this period attained his fortieth year,
but also because there existed three individuals who had a more
legitimate claim to the coveted dignity than the Cardinal--Marie de
Medicis, who had already been Regent of France during the minority of
her son; Anne of Austria, who was the mother of the future sovereign;
and Gaston d'Orleans, who, should the infant Prince fail to survive,
would become his successor. Two of these claimants were, however, as
Richelieu well knew, both suspected by and odious to Louis--the
Queen-consort and Monsieur; and he was resolved not to permit the third
to return to France while such a casualty was in abeyance, feeling
convinced that, in order to avenge her long and bitter sufferings, she
would either league with her daughter-in-law and son to traverse his
projects, or perhaps, by grasping at the reins of government, and openly
opposing his power, not only remove him from office, but even dispossess
him of the immense wealth which he had accumulated during his ministry,
and make him amenable for the crimes of which he had been guilty.

On his arrival at the Court of France, Lord Jermyn hastened to wait upon
Richelieu, to whom he delivered a letter from his royal mistress; but
even this demonstration of respect failed in its object, as the
minister, after having assured himself of the contents of the despatch,
referred the envoy to the King himself, declaring that he could not take
the initiative in an affair of so much importance to the welfare and
tranquillity of the kingdom. The English peer accordingly requested an
audience of the monarch; but, as may easily be conceived, he did not
obtain it until all had been previously concerted between Louis and his
minister; while, to the letter addressed to him by his sister, the
Cardinal-ridden King returned the following cold and inexorable reply:--

"I have never been wanting in good feeling towards the Queen my mother,
b