.[113]

The precaution thus taken with regard to M. de Conde proved, however,
supererogatory, the Prince having no further object in view in absenting
himself from the capital than the gratification of that love of personal
splendour and amusement in which he had always indulged whenever an
opportunity presented itself; and thus while the Duc d'Epernon was
watching all his movements with eager and anxious suspicion, M. de Conde
was simply enacting the quasi-sovereign at Bordeaux and the adjacent
cities where he was received with great ceremony, harangued by the
municipal bodies, and surrounded by a petty court composed of all the
nobles of the province.[114]

Concini had watched the departure of the exulting Duc d'Epernon with a
delight as great as his own; the only rival who threatened to
counterbalance his influence was now removed from the immediate sphere
in which he could prove obnoxious to his fortunes, and he soon felt the
effect of his absence in the increased dependence of the Regent upon
himself and his wife. Nor was the result less obvious to all the members
of the Court, who, as their several interests prompted, were either
overjoyed or dismayed at the unconcealed supremacy of the vainglorious
Marquis, whose bearing became more arrogant than ever, and who appeared
at each moment ready to dispute precedency even with the Princes of the
Blood themselves. All bowed before him. He was the only certain channel
of favour and preferment; and whenever, as frequently occurred, some act
of presumption more glaring than usual aroused against him the ire of
the great nobles, the tears and entreaties of his wife always sufficed
to induce the Regent to make new sacrifices for the purpose of ensuring
his impunity.

This imprudence on the part of Marie, although originating, as it
obviously did, in an inclination to maintain that peace at Court of
which she had now learned by bitter experience to appreciate all the
value, increased the evil which it was intended to obviate, the Italian
only seeing in her indulgence a new motive for continuing his moral
aggressions; and thus the evil increased slowly but surely, and the
hatred engendered by the preposterous pretensions of the Marquis
acquired new force, even when all around him appeared to admit his
supremacy, and to bend before his will.

One of the most striking proofs of the power to which he had at this
period attained is afforded by the fact that a nobleman known as