Chateauroux with letters of recall to
M. de Conde; but before his arrival the Prince had left that city for
Mezieres; and as the letters, which were forwarded to him, remained
unanswered, the royal envoy was compelled to return to the capital
without accomplishing his mission.

The next intelligence which reached the capital was the seizure of the
citadel of Mezieres by the Duc de Nevers; and as matters daily assumed
a more serious aspect, the Queen resolved to recall M. d'Epernon from
Metz, whither he had withdrawn a few months previously, and to
conciliate him by reviving in the person of his son M. de Candale the
nominal office of First Lord of the Bedchamber, which he had himself
held under Henri III; while, at the same time, she held out to the Duc
de Guise the prospect of commanding the armies of the King, should it be
found expedient to march against the Prince de Conde.

These precautions were, however, far from sufficient to tranquillize the
mind of Marie de Medicis, who began to apprehend a renewal of the
intestine calamities which had overwhelmed the nation during the
preceding reigns; and satisfied that despite all her efforts at
conciliation she was personally obnoxious to the Princes, she expressed
her determination to resign the regency. Nor did either Concini or his
wife, although their own fortunes were involved in her retirement,
venture to dissuade her from her purpose, the threats of the disaffected
nobles against themselves having convinced them that they had little
mercy to expect at their hands should they still further urge the Queen
to aggressive measures. From this hasty resolution Marie was, however,
with some difficulty, dissuaded by her Council, who represented to her
the dangerous position in which she could not fail to place the young
King; who, utterly unaccustomed to public business, must prove
incompetent to maintain his interests at so perilous a crisis as that
which now excited her own fears.

The Regent readily admitted the validity of this argument; but in
support of her purpose she informed them that she had just been apprised
of a rumour which had spread in Brittany since the Duc de Vendome had
retired from the Court, by which she was accused of having attempted to
poison the King in order to lengthen her own period of power; and with
pardonable indignation she declared that she possessed no other means of
refuting so horrible a calumny than that which she had adopted, and that