ving afforded
a subject of conversation for a brief interval, it soon appeared to be
entirely forgotten amid the more absorbing matters of interest by which
the minds of the different individuals were severally engrossed. From
policy, the betrothal was never mentioned by the courtiers in the
presence of Madame de Verneuil, a restraint which caused it to fall into
partial oblivion; and the rather as the month of June had arrived
without any demonstration on the part of the Duke of Savoy, who had
availed himself of every possible pretext to evade the fulfilment of the
treaty of Paris; and who had rendered it evident that force of arms
alone could compel him to resign the usurped marquisate. Even the
monarch himself became at length convinced of the impolicy of further
delay, and resolved forthwith to advance to Lyons, whither Sully had
already despatched both troops and artillery.[91] M. de Savoie had,
however, during his sojourn in France, made many partisans, who urged
upon their sovereign the expediency of still affording to the Duke an
opportunity of redeeming his pledge; and Henry, even against his better
reason, listened the more complacently to their counsels that Madame de
Verneuil was about to become a mother, and he shrank from the idea of
separation from her at such a moment. Thus he delayed his journey until
Sully, who was not long in discovering the cause of his inaction,
renewed his expostulations with still greater emphasis, and finally
induced him to make preparations for an immediate departure. As the hour
arrived, however, he again wavered, until at length he declared his
determination to be accompanied by the Marquise; but this arrangement
was, from her state of health, soon found to be impossible; and after
considerable difficulty he was persuaded to consent that she should
await his return at Monceaux, whither he himself conducted her, with
renewed protestations that he loved her well enough to resign even then
the alliance with Marie de Medicis, and to make her his wife.[92] This
was precisely what the favourite still hoped to accomplish. She was
aware of the extraordinary influence which she had obtained over the
mind of her royal lover, and she looked forward to the birth of a son as
the one thing necessary to her success. Accordingly, before she suffered
the King to depart, she compelled him to promise that he would be near
her during her illness; and then she reluctantly saw him set forth to
Mouli