his differences with Monsieur, we must entirely decline to do so.
On the morning of the 14th, the Spanish merchant Alphonso Lopez,[136] who was one of Richelieu’s secret agents, came to visit Bassompierre and “told him that he would do well to go to Versailles to see the King and the Cardinal.” The marshal, however, learning that the new Keeper of the Seals, Châteauneuf, with whom he was on very friendly terms, was coming to Paris that day to pay his respects to the two Queens, thought it advisable to defer his visit to the morrow, and, meanwhile, to go and offer his compliments to Châteauneuf on his appointment and ascertain from him what reception he was likely to receive.
“He told me,” says Bassompierre, “that he had not perceived that there was anything against me, but that I should do well to go and present myself. This I did on Friday, the 15th. I entered the chamber of the King, who, so soon as he caught sight of me, observed, loud enough for me to hear: ‘He has arrived after the battle,’ and greeted me very coldly. I assumed a cheerful countenance, as though nothing had been the matter. Finally, the King told me that he should be at Saint-Germain on the Monday, and that I was to bring his Swiss Guards there. At the same time, I heard Saint-Simon, the First Equerry, say to Monsieur le Comte: ‘Monsieur, do not invite him to dinner, nor me either, and he will return as he came.’ The insolence of this nasty little wretch (petit punais) put me in a rage inwardly, but I concealed it, for the laughers were not on my side, though I knew not why. Nevertheless, Monsieur le Comte said to me: ‘If you will dine with me, I have three or four dishes above for us to eat.’ ‘Monsieur,’ I replied, ‘I have asked MM. de Créquy and de Saint-Luc and the Comte de Sault to dine with me to-day at Chaillot, and they are awaiting me; but I thank you very humbly.’ Upon that the Cardinal arrived. He greeted me coldly and spoke to me rather indifferently, and then went with the King into his cabinet. I began to talk to Monsieur le Comte, when Armaignac[137] came from the Cardinal to ask me to dine with him. But, as I had just refused Monsieur le Comte, before whom he spoke, I made the same excuse as I had done before; with which the Cardinal was offended, and said so to the King.”
On the 18th Bassompierre went to Saint-Germain, where the King “gave him the worst reception in the world.” He returned two days later, and was again received in the most frigid manner. He decided to remain there, in the hope that his Majesty might relent, and stayed for three weeks, during which the King never spoke to him, except to give him the password. The two Queens were also in a sort of semi-disgrace, for though Louis treated them with every courtesy, in public it was only on very rare occasions that he entered their private apartments. Beringhen and Jaquinot, two of the King’s first valets de chambre, who had been mixed up in secret intrigues against Richelieu, were banished the Court, but for the present no further steps were taken against the Cardinal’s more prominent enemies. On the other hand, Montmorency and Toiras were created marshals of France, in order to secure them; and, to keep Monsieur quiet, the Cardinal bought the good offices of his two favourites, Puylaurens and Le Coigneux, the former by the promise that he should be created a duke, and the latter by the charge of Président au mortier in the Parlement and the present of a large sum of money.
Meanwhile, efforts were made to persuade the Queen-Mother to be reconciled to the Cardinal, and Louis XIII sent Père Suffren and the Nuncio Bagni to Marie to offer never to oblige her to restore the relatives of Richelieu to their posts in her Household, provided she would consent to resume her place in the Council. This she refused to do, so long as the Cardinal sat there.
With the New Year intrigues began again. The Président Le Coigneux, under the impression that the new Keeper of the Seals, Châteauneuf, was working to ruin him, persuaded Monsieur to break with the Cardinal and quit the Court. On the morning of January 30, Gaston went to Richelieu’s hotel, informed the Cardinal, in a threatening tone, that he renounced his friendship, since he had failed in all the promises which he had made him; then, refusing to listen to any explanation, he added that he was retiring to his appanage and that, “if he were molested, he should defend himself very well.” And, the same day, he left Paris for Orléans.
On learning of the abrupt departure of Monsieur, Bassompierre went to the Cardinal for his orders, as the King was still at Saint-Germain, when Richelieu told him that he had sent in all haste to acquaint his Majesty with what had happened and to counsel his immediate return to Paris. Louis XIII arrived that same evening and alighted at the Cardinal’s hotel, where Bassompierre was awaiting him. To his surprise, the King greeted him most cordially, presented him with a wild boar which he had killed that day, and, after visiting the Cardinal, invited Bassompierre to enter his coach and accompany him to the Louvre.
On the way Louis informed the marshal that “he was going to scold the Queen his mother for having persuaded his brother to leave the Court.” Bassompierre answered that, if the Queen-Mother had done so, she would be much to blame, but he should be greatly surprised if she had counselled such a thing. To which the King rejoined that he was positive she had, “on account of the hatred which she entertained for the Cardinal.”
A few days later Louis XIII announced his intention of spending the Carnival at Compiègne, whither the two Queens decided to follow him, for Marie cherished the illusion that, with the aid of her daughter-in-law, she might yet succeed in undermining the power of the Cardinal, and she was determined not to repeat the fault she had committed on the Day of Dupes.
On February 16, the day before the Court set out for Compiègne, Bassompierre, who had been given permission to remain in Paris, went to take leave of their Majesties. The King received him very graciously and promised him a gratification to compensate him for the heavy expenses which he had incurred during his embassy to Switzerland. Afterwards the marshal went to visit the Princesse de Conti, who was to accompany the Court to Compiègne. Little did he imagine as he bade his wife farewell that they were never to meet again!