s which he had craft enough to conceal; and thus the very
individuals who were the objects of his hatred regarded him merely as a
shallow and superficial young man, whose whole soul was in the puerile
sports to which he had addicted himself.

It was not, however, solely to take small birds that De Luynes aspired
when he thus found himself the chosen companion of the Dauphin; he had
other talents which he exerted so zealously that he ere long made
himself indispensable. Gifted with a magnificent person, insinuating
manners, and that ready tact by which an indolent nature is
unconsciously roused to excitement, he soon obtained an extraordinary
influence over his royal playmate by the power which he possessed of
overcoming his habitual apathy, and causing him to enter with zest and
enjoyment into the pleasures of his age. Henri IV, who perceived with
gratification the beneficial effect produced upon the saturnine nature
of his son, and who was, moreover, touched by the fraternal devotion of
the page, transferred him to the household of the Dauphin, and augmented
his income to twelve hundred crowns; and thenceforward he became at once
the companion, counsellor, and friend of the young Louis; and at the
desire of the Prince he was created Master of the Aviary.

Time passed on. The Dauphin succeeded to the throne of his murdered
father; the Regency tottered under the machinations of the great nobles;
faction grew out of faction; cabals and conspiracies kept the nation in
one perpetual state of anxiety and unrest; but the influence of De
Luynes continued undiminished; and neither Marie de Medicis nor her
ministers apprehended any danger from an association that was fated to
produce the most serious consequences; while the Princes were equally
disinclined to disturb the amusements in which the young monarch was so
entirely absorbed as to pay little attention to the important events
which succeeded each other around him.

As he grew older Louis became still more attached to his favourite. His
discontented spirit made him irritable under every disappointment, and
vindictive towards those by whom his wishes were opposed: he detested
alike explanation and remonstrance, and from De Luynes he never
encountered either the one or the other. Under the remonstrances of his
mother he became sullen; to the arrogant assumption of the Princes and
the Marechal d'Ancre he opposed an apathetic silence which caused them
to believe that it was