ely for them, they did not reckon with the two principal
parties concerned, Louis XIII. and Cardinal Richelieu. With all his
weaknesses of temper and mind, the king had intellect enough to know
what were the great interests of his kingdom and power, and on whose
shoulders they rested. Above all the littleness of a court cabal he
could not but discern the great questions which impended, and with which
he felt quite incompetent to deal. And he could perceive but one man in
his kingdom able to handle these great problems of state.

As for Richelieu, he was by no means blind to what was going on around
him. He was the last man in the world to be a dupe. Delaying until the
time seemed ripe to move, he requested and obtained an interview with
the king. They were a long time closeted, while all the courtier-world
of Paris waited in expectation and suspense.

What passed in that private cabinet of the palace no one knew, but when
the interview was over it quickly became evident that the queen-mother
and her associates had lost, the cardinal had won. Michael de Marillac
had hopeful dreams that night, as he slept in his house at Glatigny; but
when he awoke in the morning it was to receive the disturbing news that
the king and the cardinal were at Versailles together, the minister
being lodged in a room under that of the monarch. Quickly came still
more disturbing news. The king demanded a return of the seals. Before
this tidings could be well digested, the frightened plotter learned that
his own arrest had been ordered, and that the exons were already at his
door to secure his person.

While the courtier conspirator was being thus attended to, the soldier,
his brother, was not forgotten. A courier had been despatched to the
headquarters of the army in Piedmont, bearing a letter to Marshal
Schomberg, who, with Marshals La Force and Marillac, had formed there a
junction of the forces under their control. Marillac was in command on
the day of the courier's arrival, and was impatiently awaiting the news,
for which he had been prepared by his brother, of the cardinal's
disgrace.

Schomberg opened his despatches. The first words he saw, in the king's
own handwriting, were these:

"My dear cousin, you will not fail to arrest Marshal Marillac; it is for
the good of my service and for your own exculpation."

Schomberg looked at the document with startled eyes. What could this
mean? And was it safe to attempt an arrest? A large secti