Then, rising from her seat, she paced to and fro across the floor for nearly half an hour, no one venturing to break in upon her reverie.  Suddenly, however, she paused, and beckoning to her companions to follow her, she entered her private closet; and the hangings no sooner fell behind the party than, turning once more towards him, she continued with bitter vehemence: 

“I am about to arrest the Prince, together with the Ducs de Vendome, de Mayenne, and de Bouillon.  Let the Swiss Guards be on the spot by eleven o’clock as I proceed to the Tuileries, for should I be compelled by the people to leave Paris, I wish them to accompany me to Nantes.  I have secured my jewels and forty thousand golden crowns, and I shall take my children with me, if—­which I pray God may not be the case, and as I do not anticipate—­I find myself under the necessity of leaving the capital; for I am resolved to submit to every sort of peril and inconvenience rather than lose my own authority or endanger that of the King.” [247]

The final arrangements were then discussed, and Marie de Medicis was left to her own thoughts until the hour of eight, when M. de Themines was announced.

“Ha! you are come at length,” she exclaimed joyfully; “I was awaiting you with impatience.  The Council is about to open, and it is time that we were all prepared.  Can you depend on those by whom you are accompanied?”

“They are my sons, Madame.”

“Bravely answered!” said Marie forcing a smile, as she extended her hand, which the Marquis raised to his lips.  “Go then, and remember that the fate of France and of her monarch are in your keeping.”

Although surrounded by devoted friends, the Queen-mother was agitated by a thousand conflicting emotions.  She was well aware that her own future existence as a Queen hung upon the success or failure of her enterprise, as should the slightest indiscretion on the part of any of her agents arouse the suspicions of the Prince and induce him to leave the capital, he had every prospect of obtaining the crown.  Moreover, MM. de Crequy and de Bassompierre, who were in command of the French and Swiss Guards, and who had received orders to draw up their men in order of battle at the great gate of the Louvre immediately that the Prince should have entered, and to arrest him did he attempt to leave the palace, became alarmed at the responsibility thus thrust upon them, and declined to comply with these instructions until they had received a warranty to that effect under the great seal; but this demand having been conceded, they hesitated no longer.[248] All the precautions which had been taken nevertheless failed in some degree in their effect, as the Duc de Mayenne and the Marechal de Bouillon were apprised by their emissaries of the unusual movements of the Court, and at once adopted measures of safety.  Bouillon feigned an indisposition, and refused to leave his hotel, where, after a long interview with the Duke, it was resolved that Conde should be warned not to trust himself in the power of the Queen-mother.  The Prince, however, who had been lulled into false security by the specious representations of Barbin, treated their caution with contempt, being unable to believe that Marie would venture to attempt any violence towards himself.