Louis having learnt at Poitiers that the Queen was on her way to join him, immediately proceeded to Tours to await her arrival, and to conduct her to the former city, whither she accompanied him with all the great ladies of the Court; and four days subsequently Marie de Medicis followed with her slender retinue.  She was welcomed by Anne of Austria with haughty courtesy; and during the ensuing week all was revelry and dissipation.  The young Queen gave a splendid ball in honour of her august mother-in-law; and on the morrow the Jesuits performed a comedy at which all the Court were present.

It is probable, however, that Marie de Medicis did not enter with much zest into these diversions, as she could not fail to perceive that the courtesy evinced towards her was reluctant and constrained; and when, on the arrival of the Duc de Mayenne, she witnessed the coldness of his reception, her fears for her own future welfare must have been considerably augmented.  At his first audience Mayenne threw himself at the feet of the King, protesting his sorrow for the past, and imploring the royal pardon with all the humility of a criminal, but Louis alike feared and hated the veteran leaguer, and he replied harshly:  “Enough, M. le Duc; I will forget the past should the future give me cause to do so.”  And as he ceased speaking he turned away, leaving the mortified noble to rise at his leisure from the lowly attitude which he had assumed.[59]

Two days subsequently the King resumed his journey to Guienne, Marie de Medicis proceeded to Fontainebleau, and Anne of Austria returned to Paris.  As Louis reached Chize he was met by the Duc d’Epernon, who, in his turn, sued for forgiveness, which was accorded without difficulty; and thus the Queen-mother found herself deprived of her two most efficient protectors,[60] and clung more tenaciously than ever to the support of the treacherous Richelieu.

The next care of Louis was to compel the resumption of the Roman Catholic religion in Bearn; after which he followed the Court to the capital, whither he had already been preceded by the Queen-mother.

FOOTNOTES: 

[45] Mercure Francais, 1620. Pieces Curieuses faites durant le Regne du Connetable de Luynes, pp. 1-3.

[46] Siri, Mem.  Rec. vol. v. pp. 70-72. Vie du Duc d’Epernon, book viii.  Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 458.  Fontenay-Mareuil, Mem. p. 458.  Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 183, 184.  Richelieu, Hist. de la Mere et du Fils, vol. ii. pp. 397, 398.

[47] Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 183, 184.  Fontenay-Mareuil, Mem. pp. 461-467.

[48] Siri, Mem.  Rec. vol. v. pp. 106-108.  Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 186, 187.

[49] Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 186, 187.  Siri, Mem.  Rec. vol. v. pp. 106-110.

[50] Siri, Mem.  Rec. 1620, pp. 110-122.

[51] Le Vassor, vol. ii. p. 206.  Pontchartrain, Mem. p. 313.  Fontenay-Mareuil, Mem. p. 462.  Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 462, 463.  Matthieu, Hist, des Derniers Troubles, book iii. p. 650.