on the Loire at the head of his
whole army.

This unlooked-for celerity caused the greatest consternation in the
party of Marie, who had anticipated that the conquest of Normandy would
have occupied the royal forces during a considerable period, and relying
on this contingency, had not yet completed the defences of Angers. The
Queen herself, however, continued to refuse all overtures of
reconciliation, and after having vainly demanded a month's truce, she
turned her whole attention to the formation of such an army as might
enable her to compete with that by which she saw herself assailed. Her
forces already amounted to fifteen hundred horse and eight thousand
infantry, and she was anticipating a strong reinforcement, which was to
be supplied by the Duc de Rohan and the Comte de Saint-Aignan. Her first
care was to garrison the town and citadel of Angers, in order to secure
her personal safety; but this precaution did not satisfy the Duc de
Mayenne, who urged her to retire to Guienne, where he had collected a
force of ten thousand men, and thus to place herself beyond all
possibility of capture. The Duc d'Epernon, on the other hand, who was
jealous of the influence which such a step must necessarily give to his
rival, strongly dissuaded the Queen from condescending to retreat before
the royal army; and suggested that M. de Mayenne would more effectually
serve her cause and uphold her honour by marching his troops to Angers,
and thus strengthening her position. This suggestion, by whatever motive
it were prompted, was one of sound policy; nor can there be any doubt
that it would have been readily adopted by Marie de Medicis, had there
not been a traitor in the camp, whose covert schemes must have been
foiled by such an addition to the faction of his royal mistress.

That traitor was Richelieu, by whom every movement in the rebel army,
and every decision of the Queen-mother's Council, was immediately
revealed to De Luynes. The wily Bishop, faithful to his own interests,
and lured onward by the vision of a cardinal's hat, no sooner saw the
impression produced upon the mind of Marie by the proposal of Epernon
than he hastened to oppose a measure which threatened all his hopes, and
succeeded with some difficulty in persuading her that both these great
nobles could more effectually serve her in their own governments than by
adding a useless burthen to her dower-city, which was already gorged
with troops, and which, in the even