ions; and I pledge myself, on my return to Paris, both
to exclude him from the Council and to dismiss him from the government
of the state."

With this assurance the Queen-mother was compelled to appear satisfied,
although she panted for more immediate vengeance; and so grateful did
the King express himself for the unceasing tenderness and vigilance of
the two Queens, that he listened without remonstrance to their
complaints. As, contrary to the anticipations of the faculty, he rallied
from the attack, he became even more indulgent; an extent of confidence
and affection hitherto unknown reigned in the royal circle; and
when he heard Marie and her daughter-in-law attribute all their
humiliations and sufferings to the Cardinal alone, while they
entirely exonerated himself, he did not scruple to deplore the
misstatements of others by which he had been induced to disregard
their previous expostulations.[135]

The convalescence of Louis was no sooner assured than he resolved to
return to Paris, believing that his native air would hasten his complete
recovery; and accordingly, after having entreated Marie de Medicis to
dissemble her displeasure against Richelieu until he should be prepared
to dismiss him from office, the Court commenced its homeward journey.
The Cardinal meanwhile, although necessarily ignorant of the pledge
given by the King, had learnt enough to convince him that the faction of
the Queen-mother had been actively seeking to undermine his influence
during the sojourn of the monarch at Lyons, and he consequently resolved
to accompany the royal party to the capital; his weak health forming a
sufficient pretext for this determination. Having made his final
arrangements, he accordingly proceeded to Roanne in order to join the
Queen-mother, and to endeavour during the journey to reinstate himself
in her favour.

In compliance with the request of the King, Marie de Medicis met the
astute minister with a dissimulation equal to his own; and even affected
to feel flattered when he demanded her permission for his litter to
travel immediately behind her own. It was not, however, until the royal
barge had received its august freight, and begun to descend the Loire,
that the Cardinal had an opportunity of fully enacting the courtly
character which he had assigned to himself in this serious emergency. As
the Queen-mother lay upon her couch the minister stood obsequiously
beside her, beneath the crimson canopy by which s