"Madame," was the dignified reply, "it is not at such a moment as this, when we have merely done our duty, that we should seek for reward; but I trust that when by some important service I may deserve to be remembered, the King will grant me both wealth and honours without any claim upon my own part."
Louis hesitated for a moment, and then, with a slight bow, passed on; and he had no sooner entered his private closet, still accompanied by his mother, than a herald announced in a loud voice that a great public council would be held on the following day at the meeting of the Parliament.
It might well be imagined that when she retired Marie de Medicis left grateful hearts behind her, but such was not the case; lavish as she had proved upon this occasion, she was far from having satisfied those who had assisted in the arrest of the Prince, and who did not fail openly to express their discontent.[255]
During this time the Dowager-Princess of Condé had been apprised of the arrest of her son; and, maddened by the intelligence, she had immediately rushed out of her house on foot, and hurried to the Pont Neuf, crying as she went, "To arms! To arms!"
"It is Madame de Nemours!" shouted the crowd which gathered about her. "Long live Madame de Nemours!"
"Long live Madame de Nemours!" echoed a voice, which was immediately recognized as that of the shoemaker Picard, who had, since his insult to the Maréchal d'Ancre, been the idol of the mob. "Concini has assassinated the first Prince of the Blood in the Louvre!"
Even this announcement, however, failed in the effect which had been anticipated by the Princess, whose object was to accomplish the rescue of her son; for while the respectable citizens hastened to close their shops and to place their families in safety, the lower orders rushed towards the hôtel of the Maréchal d'Ancre in the Faubourg St. Germain. The doors were driven in, furniture and valuables to the amount of two hundred thousand crowns were destroyed, and lighted torches were applied to the costly hangings of the apartments, which soon caused the carved and gilded woodwork to ignite; while a portion of the mob at the same time attacked the house of Corbinelli his secretary; and soon the two residences presented only a mass of bare and blackened walls. M. de Liancourt, the Governor of Paris, opposed his authority in vain; he was hooted, driven back, and finally compelled to retire. Couriers were despatched to the Louvre to inform the Queen-mother of the popular tumult, but no orders were issued in consequence; the counsellors of Marie de Medicis deeming it desirable that the populace should be permitted to expend their violence upon the property of Concini, rather than turn their attention to the rescue of the Prince, until the public excitement had abated.
The arrest of M. de Condé had alarmed all the leaders of the late faction, who hastened to secure their own safety. Bouillon, as we have stated, had already reached Charenton; and the Duc de Vendôme had fled in his turn on learning that all egress from the Louvre was forbidden, and that the outlets of the palace were strongly guarded. M. de Mayenne, who had hitherto remained in the capital, awaiting the progress of events, followed his example attended by a strong party of his friends. The Duc de Guise and the Prince de Joinville, alarmed lest they should be involved in the ruin of Condé through the machinations of Concini, with whom they were at open feud, hastened to Soissons, in order to join M. de Mayenne, whither they were shortly followed by the young Count and his mother; and, finally, the Duc de Nevers, who had indulged in a vain dream of rendering himself master of the Turkish empire through the medium of the Greeks, by declaring himself to be a descendant of the Paleologi, suddenly halted on his way to Germany, and declared himself determined to join the new faction of the Princes.[256] These defections created a great void at the Louvre, but the Queen-mother disdained to express her mortification; and, on the contrary, affected the most entire confidence in the nobles who still maintained their adherence to the Crown.
She was well aware that Condé had lost much of his popularity by abandoning the interests of the people at the Treaty of Loudun, and that the Protestants similarly resented the selfishness with which he had sacrificed their cause to his ambition; while she had, moreover, ascertained that the flight of the Duc de Guise and his brother had been simply induced by misrepresentation, and that through the medium of the females of their family they might readily be recalled. These circumstances gave her courage; and when, on the morning of the 2nd of September, she came to the council of war, which was held in the Augustine Monastery and presided over by the Maréchal de Brissac, accompanied by her two sons, she remarked with undisguised gratification that more than two thousand nobles were already assembled. When the King, the Queen-mother, Monsieur, the great dignitaries, and the ministers had taken their seats, the doors were thrown open to all who chose to enter; and in a few moments the vast hall was densely crowded. Silence was then proclaimed; M. de Brissac declared that the session was open, and the President Jeannin forthwith commenced reading, in the name of the King, the celebrated declaration explaining the arrest of the Prince de Condé; proclaiming him a traitor, and, finally, promising a free pardon to all who had aided and abetted him in his disloyal practices, on condition of their appearing within fifteen days to solicit the mercy of his Majesty, in default of which concession they would be involved in the same accusation of lèse-majesté[257]
More than once, during the delivery of this discourse, many of the nobles who were attached to the faction of the Princes gave utterance to a suppressed murmur; but it was not until its close that they openly and vociferously expressed their dissatisfaction. Then, indeed, the hall became a scene of confusion and uproar which baffles all description; voice was heard above voice; the clang of weapons as they were struck against the stone floor sounded ominously; and the terrified young King, after glancing anxiously towards De Luynes, who returned his look by another quite as helpless, fastened his gaze upon his mother as if from her alone he could hope for protection. Nor was his mute appeal made in vain, for although an expression of anxiety could be traced upon the noble features of Marie de Medicis, they betrayed no feeling of alarm. She was pale but calm, and her eyes glanced over the assembly as steadily as though she herself played no part in the drama which was enacting before her. For a few moments she remained motionless, as if absorbed in this momentous scrutiny; but ultimately she turned and uttered a few words in a low voice to Bassompierre, who was standing immediately behind her; and she had no sooner done so than, accompanied by M. de Saint-Géran, the captain of the King's Guard, he left the hall. In an instant afterwards both officers re-appeared, followed by a company of halberdiers, who silently took up their position in the rear of the sovereign and his mother; and the Queen no sooner saw the gleam of their lances than she caused it to be intimated to the President Jeannin that she desired to address the meeting.