eagerly demands a free pardon for the
Duc de Vendome; but no, no; I will not concede that pardon at present; I
will merely suspend the trial; and that measure will, believe me, prove
the most efficient one to hold in check so impetuous a character as his.
Nevertheless, read the letter aloud," he added, "that the Court may have
full cognizance of every circumstance connected with this
unhappy affair."

Seguier, after a profound obeisance to the sovereign, once more unfolded
the packet, of which these were the contents:

"Monsieur le Chancelier, the interests of the state having ever been the
sole object of my attention and anxiety, I consider that the public will
not be in any way benefited by a knowledge of the evil design of M. le
Duc de Vendome; and thus I have thought that I might, without any
prejudice to the royal service, implore of his Majesty to pardon M.
de Vendome."

Once more did the well-acted generosity and self-abnegation of the wily
Cardinal excite a universal and enthusiastic murmur of admiration;
while one of the Council, anxious to exhibit his attachment to the
person of Richelieu in the presence of the King, even carried his
sycophancy so far as to exclaim: "What a noble spirit! I propose that
the letter to which we have just listened should be inscribed on the
parliamentary register in order that it may descend to posterity." No
answering voice, however, seconded the proposition; for few who were
present at this extraordinary scene, and who remembered that the
relatives of the accused Prince had been driven from Paris at the
instigation of the Cardinal, doubted for an instant that they were
actors in a preconcerted drama, and they consequently remained silent,
until the King, after having glanced rapidly over the assembly, rose
from his seat, and said somewhat impatiently: "Gentlemen, you
may retire."

Such was the abrupt and indefinite termination of a trial which had, as
Richelieu intended that it should do, convulsed the whole aristocracy of
France. The son of Henri IV could not again set his foot upon the soil
of that kingdom which counted him among its Princes save at the risk of
his life; while his unoffending wife and sons were banished to a
distance from the capital which was their legitimate sphere of action,
and branded as the relatives of a conspirator.

The next victim of the inexorable Cardinal was M. de Saint-Preuil, the
Governor of Arras, who had fought valiantly against the Span