sing the heirship of the
king's son.

_RICHELIEU AND THE CONSPIRATORS._

In a richly-furnished state apartment of the royal palace of the
Luxembourg, on a day in November, 1630, stood Louis XIII., king of
France, tapping nervously with his fingers on the window-pane, and with
a disturbed and irresolute look upon his face. Beside him was his
favorite, St. Simon, a showily-dressed and handsome gentleman of the
court.

"What do you think of all this?" asked the king, his fingers keeping up
their idle drumming on the glass.

"Sir, I seem to be in another world," was the politic reply. "But at any
rate you are master."

"I am," said the king, proudly, "and I will make it felt, too."

The royal prisoner was stirring uneasily in the bonds which hard
necessity had cast round his will. It was against Cardinal Richelieu
that his testy remark was made, yet in the very speaking he could not
but feel that to lose Richelieu was to lose the bulwark of his throne;
that this imperious master, against whose rule he chafed, was the glory
and the support of his reign.

Just now, however, the relations between king and cardinal were sadly
strained. Mary de' Medici, the king's mother, once Richelieu's ardent
friend, was now his active foe. The queen, Anne of Austria, was equally
hostile. Their influence had been used to its utmost to poison the mind
of the monarch against his minister, and seemingly with success. To all
appearance it looked as if the great cardinal was near his fall.

Rumor of what was afloat had invaded the court. Everywhere were secret
whisperings, knowing looks, expectant movements. The courtiers were
flocking to the Luxembourg, in hopes of some advantage to themselves.
Marillac, the keeper of the seals, was at his country house at Glatigny,
very near Versailles, where the king was expected. He remained there in
hopes that Louis would send for him and put the power of the disgraced
cardinal into his hands. The colossus seemed about to fall. All waited
expectantly.

The conspiracy of the queen-mother had gone farther than to use her
personal influence with her son against the cardinal. There were others
in league with her, particularly Marillac, the keeper of the seals, and
Marshal Marillac, his brother, then in command of a large force in
Piedmont. All had been carefully prepared against the fall of the
minister. The astute conspirators had fully laid their plans as to what
was to follow.

Unfortunat