"Her Majesty used to delight in dancing. Now she often danced with Buckingham. This was only etiquette, as he represented Charles I. of England at the Court of France. Her Majesty was always very cautious, I assure you, very cautious. Buckingham did all he could to retard the negotiation of marriage, and Richelieu, who knew the Queen well and had watched her closely, having, I suppose, discovered her secret, did everything, on the contrary, to hasten his departure.
"There was a story about some diamonds—an aigrette, I believe. I never quite understood it, ladies, but of course Madame de Chevreuse did—some diamonds that the King had given to the Queen, and which she gave to Buckingham, who was imprudent enough to wear them in public. This nearly caused her ruin, for she was surrounded by enemies and spies. The Cardinal got wind of it, and informed the King, and his Majesty called on the Queen to wear these diamonds on a certain day, and but for the exertions of certain musketeers of the Queen's Guard, by name Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, who journeyed night and day to fetch them from England—at least, so goes the tale—Anne of Austria would have been imprisoned, or perhaps beheaded, à la mode Anglaise, particularly as the Cardinal preferred that mode of execution. You remember that charming Monsieur le Grand, who had his head cut off?" says Madame de Noailles, appealing to the red-nosed Countess.
"Ah! I should think so, the husband of Marion de l'Orme, the Marquis de Cinq-Mars, a sad profligate and coxcomb, who richly deserved his fate."
"At last Buckingham was to go," continues the Duchess; "he could spin out his time no longer. All the Court accompanied him to Amiens. Madame de Chevreuse was with the Queen, who did all she could to conceal her grief, for, believe me, she is very cautious. Ah! her Majesty knows what it is to be in love though, spite of caution and serge gown, and her petit air dévot. She ought to be more charitable, and let her ladies do as they please, eh, mesdames?" and the Duchess looks round, and sees every eye fixed eagerly upon her; the red-nosed Countess, with a visible sneer on her face, and Madame de Sennécy, full of gratified spite, smiling sarcastically. "Madame de Chevreuse did, ladies, hint to me, that the long evening spent at Amiens was not passed—hum!—well, not passed all in public. For a single moment her Majesty did, extraordinary to say, forget her usual caution, and you know, ladies, a moment may do much."
All the ladies laugh behind their fans, and the red-nosed Countess gives it as her decided opinion "that the Queen is not married to Mazarin," for which the Duchesse de Sennécy warmly applauds her excellent judgment, and adds, "she had always said so."
"There was a fête at Amiens," continues Madame de Noailles, her eyes sparkling with malice, "a shady garden, and a moon not too bright—a lover's moon, we will say—revealing much, not all. It is certain that by the management of Madame de Chevreuse, the Queen and Buckingham had a charming little àpart during the fête, in a grove at the end of the gardens, near the city walls. There was a cry, and Putange, who was in waiting, but—instructed by Madame de Chevreuse—standing apart, though within call, hearing the Queen's voice, rushed forward and found her nearly fainting, and Buckingham on his knees before her."
"Bagatelle!" breaks in Madame de Sennécy, "what a romantic story!"
"Certain it is, Buckingham sailed from France that same night. Madame de Chevreuse had too much on her own hands (en fait d'amour) to know more than what Putange told her. Buckingham sailed, the Queen returned ill to Paris, and was nursed by the Duchesse de Chevreuse. Some say that Buckingham returned again privately. At all events, the Queen, as long as Richelieu and Louis XIII. lived, led a miserable life. Mesdames," and the Duchesse de Noailles gives a triumphant glance round the circle, "I have proved, I think, that her Majesty is seldom incautious," and the Duchess smiles a bitter smile, and again looks around for approval and acquiescence.
Just as the ladies had all risen with great animation to give their various opinions and to thank the Duchess, the rattle of a heavy coach is heard below. In a few moments the door is flung open, and Madame la Duchesse de Chevreuse is announced.