Marie de Medicis—­The iron rule of Richelieu—­The Cardinal-dramatist—­Gaston avows his marriage to the King—­Louis enters Lorraine, and takes Nancy—­Madame escapes to the Low Countries—­Her reception at the Court of Brussels—­Marie de Medicis takes up her residence at Ghent—­Serious indisposition of the Queen-mother—­She solicits the attendance of her physician Vautier, and is refused—­Hypocrisy of the Cardinal—­Indignation of the dying Queen—­She rejects the terms of reconciliation offered by the King—­Attachment of her adherents—­Richelieu negotiates the return of Gaston to France—­The favourite of Monsieur—­Gaston refuses to annul his marriage—­Alfeston is broken on the wheel for attempting the life of the Cardinal—­The Queen-mother is accused of instigating the murder—­The bodyguard of the Cardinal-Minister is increased—­Estrangement of Monsieur and his mother—­Madame endeavours to effect the dismissal of Puylaurens—­Insolence of the favourite—­Heartlessness of Monsieur—­Marie solicits permission to return to France—­She is commanded as a condition to abandon her followers, and refuses—­Death of the Archduchess Isabella—­Gaston negotiates, and consents to the most humiliating concessions.

After having forwarded his manifesto to the King, Gaston d’Orleans proceeded without further delay to the Low Countries, and once more arrived in Brussels at the close of January 1633, where he was received by the Spaniards (who had borne all the expenses of his campaign, whence they had not derived the slightest advantage) with as warm a welcome as though he had realized all their hopes.  The principal nobles of the Court and the great officers of the Infanta’s household were commanded to show towards him the same respect and deference as towards herself; he was reinstated in the gorgeous apartments which he had formerly occupied; and the sum of thirty thousand florins monthly was assigned for the maintenance of his little Court.[189] One mortification, however, awaited him on his arrival; as the Queen-mother, unable to suppress her indignation at his abandonment of her interests, had, on the pretext of requiring change of air, quitted Brussels on the previous day, and retired to Malines, whither he hastened to follow her.  But, although Marie consented to receive him, and even expressed her satisfaction on seeing him once more beyond the power of his enemies, the wound caused by his selfishness was not yet closed; and she peremptorily refused to accompany him back to the capital, or to change her intention of thenceforth residing at Ghent.  In vain did Monsieur represent that he was compelled to make every concession in order to escape the malice of the Cardinal, and to secure an opportunity of rejoining her in Flanders; whenever the softened manner of the Queen-mother betrayed any symptom of relenting, a word or a gesture from Chanteloupe sufficed to render her brow once more rigid, and her accents cold.