their entreaties that the brother of the King should not be permitted to contract the alliance which he contemplated.  But while Louis was bewildered by this seeming contradiction, Richelieu thoroughly appreciated its real motive, being well aware of the enmity which existed between Mesdames de Joyeuse and de la Valette and the Princesse de Conti, who had long ceased to dissemble their dislike; and who were consequently overjoyed to oppose any undertaking to which the adverse party was pledged.

The two former ladies, who were the most confidential friends of the young Queen, found little difficulty in exciting her alarm, and in inducing her to assist them in their endeavours to thwart a marriage by which, as they asserted, her own personal interests were threatened; nor did they scruple to remind her that in the event of the King’s demise, an occurrence which his feeble constitution and frequent indisposition rendered far from improbable, it was necessary for her own future welfare that the heir-presumptive to the Crown should remain unmarried as long as possible.

“What must be your fate, Madame,” they insidiously urged, “should his Majesty die without issue?  Should you be willing to retire to a cloister while Mademoiselle de Montpensier took your place upon the throne?  Or, even supposing that the King survives, and that you continue childless while the Prince becomes the father of a son, whom all France will regard as its future sovereign, how will you be able to brook the comparative insignificance to which you must be reduced?  You will do well to consider these things; and to remember that, in the event of your widowhood, your interest requires that the successor of your present consort should be in a position to secure to you the same station as that which you now hold.”

These artful representations produced the desired effect upon the mind of Anne of Austria, who, alike haughty and vain, could not brook to anticipate any diminution of her dignity; and she accordingly lost no time in impressing upon Louis the danger to which he would expose himself by allowing his brother to form an alliance that could not fail to balance his own power in the kingdom.  Naturally jealous and distrustful, the King listened eagerly to her reasoning; and while the young Prince continued to pay his court each day more assiduously to the noble and wealthy heiress, the adverse faction, under the sanction of the sovereign, were labouring no less zealously to contravene his views.  In conjunction with the Queen, there were not wanting several individuals who, moreover, pointed out to the monarch that should Gaston be permitted to accomplish the contemplated marriage, he would be thus enabled to gain over the still existing leaders of the League, and the party of the Prince de Conde, who, already disaffected towards his own person, would not fail to embrace the interests of his brother.  More and more alarmed by each succeeding argument, Louis forthwith summoned M. d’Ornano to his presence, and peremptorily commanded him to put an immediate stop to the intrigues which were going on upon the subject of the projected alliance; and to forbid the Prince, in his name, to form any engagement with Mademoiselle de Montpensier.[89]