icard convinced him that his prosperity had reached
its climax. Even the Queen-mother, indignant as she expressed herself at
the insult to which he had been subjected, betrayed no inclination to
resent it; and so entire was his conviction that his overthrow was at
hand, that there can be no doubt but that thenceforward he began
seriously to meditate a return to his own country.[240]

Nearly at the moment in which the Marechal d'Ancre was thus unexpectedly
compelled to leave Paris, his untiring enemy the Duc de Longueville made
himself master of the three towns of Peronne, Roye, and Montdidier in
Picardy, which, by the Treaty of Loudun, had been secured to Concini.
Publicly the Princes blamed this violation of the treaty, and exhorted
the Duke to relinquish his conquests; but being in reality delighted
that places of this importance, and, moreover, so immediately in the
neighbourhood of the capital, should be in the possession of one of
their own allies, they privately sent him both men and money to enable
him to retain them.[241]

Meanwhile Marie de Medicis made no effort to compel the restitution of
the captured towns; the insult to which Concini had been subjected by
Picard remained unavenged, and the Italian could no longer conceal from
himself that he had outlived his fortunes. It is scarcely doubtful,
moreover, that, with the superstition common to the period, the
prediction of Luminelli had pressed heavily upon his mind; as from that
period he became anxious to abandon the French Court, and to retire with
his enormous wealth to his native city. It was in vain, however, that he
sought to inspire Leonora with the same desire; in vain that he
represented the prudence of taking the initiative while there was yet
time; the foster-sister of Marie de Medicis peremptorily refused to
leave Paris, alleging that it would be cowardly to abandon her royal
mistress at a period when she was threatened alike by the ambition of
the Prince de Conde and the enmity of De Luynes, whose power over the
mind of the young sovereign was rapidly making itself felt.

At this precise moment a new and grave misfortune tended to augment the
eagerness of the Marechal d'Ancre to carry out his project. His
daughter, through whose medium he had looked to form an alliance with
some powerful family, and thus to fortify his own position, was taken
dangerously ill, and in a few days breathed her last. His anguish was
ungovernable; and while his wife