She had married M. de Luynes, the minister of Louis XIII., who
overthrew the power of Marie de' Medici, and who, by initiating his
wife into his secrets, gave her the schooling and experience which she
later used to such advantage. De Luynes presented her at court
with instructions to ingratiate herself with the queen--Anne of
Austria--and the king. In this design she succeeded so well that she
was soon made superintendent of the household of the queen, and became
as influential with Anne as was her husband with the king.

In 1621 M. de Luynes died; a year later his widow married Claude of
Lorraine, Duke of Chevreuse; but as that was an unhappy union,
she soon began her career as an intriguer. On the arrival of Lord
Kensington, the English ambassador, she fell in love with him, that
escapade being the first of a long series; the two proceeded to
inveigle Queen Anne into a liaison with the Duke of Buckingham, which
scheme, as history so well records, partly succeeded.

When Mme. de Chevreuse accompanied to England the new queen,
Henriette-Marie, wife of Charles I., both Buckingham and Kensington
outdid themselves in showing her attention, Richelieu, fearing her
influence and intrigues at the court of England, hastened the recall
of her husband, but she received through her friends, from the English
monarch himself, an invitation to remain; during the time, she gave
birth to a child.

Her next famous undertaking, which involved the lives of various
persons of high rank, was the scheme to persuade Monsieur the Dauphin
to refuse to marry Mlle. de Montpensier; Queen Anne was opposed to
this union, and Mme. de Chevreuse gained to their cause a number of
influential friends who were all madly in love with her. The ever
vigilant Richelieu having discovered the plot, Monsieur confessed.
In this conspiracy, M. de Chalais lost his head, other plotters lost
their positions, and some were exiled. Mme. de Chevreuse was forced
to retire to Lorraine; there she set in movement a vast plan against
Richelieu and France, allying England and various princes, but, by the
arrest of Montaigu, the plot was discovered, the alliance broken up,
and peace restored.

In 1626, by request of England, Mme. de Chevreuse returned to France.
For a time she was quiet and seemed to favor Richelieu, but she soon
captivated one of his ministers, the Marquis of Chateauneuf.
Richelieu discovered the latter's weakness, and, having captured his
correspondenc