CHAPTER IV.
1603 Court festivities--Madame de Verneuil is lodged in the palace--She gives birth to a daughter--Royal quarrels--Mademoiselle de Guise--Italian actors--Revolt at Metz--Henry proceeds thither and suppresses the rebellion--Discontent of the Duc d'Epernon--The Duchesse de Bar and the Duc de Lorraine arrive in France--Illness of Queen Elizabeth of England--Her death--Indisposition of the French King--Sully at Fontainebleau--Confidence of Henri IV in his wife--His recovery--Renewed passion of Henry for Madame de Verneuil--Anger of the Queen--Quarrel of the Comte de Soissons and the Duc de Sully--The edict--Treachery of Madame de Verneuil--Insolence of the Comte de Soissons--A royal rebuke--Alarm of Madame de Verneuil--Hopes of the Queen--Jealousy of the Marquise--The dinner at Rosny--The King pacifies the province of Lower Normandy--The Comte de Soissons prepares to leave the kingdom--Is dissuaded by the King--Official apology of Sully--Reception of Alexandre-Monsieur into the Order of the Knights of Malta--Death of the Duchesse de Bar--Grief of the King--The Papal Nuncio--Treachery near the throne--A revelation--The Duc de Villeroy--A stormy audience--Escape of L'Hote--His pursuit--His death--Ignominious treatment of his body--Madame de Verneuil asserts her claim to the hand of the King--The Comte d'Auvergne retires from the Court--Madame de Verneuil requests permission to quit France--Reply of the King--Indignation of Marie--The King resolves to obtain the written promise of marriage--Insolence of the favourite--Weakness of Henry--He asks the advice of Sully--Parallel between a wife and a mistress--A lame apology--The two Henrys--Reconciliation between the King and the favourite--Remonstrances of Sully--A delicate dilemma--Extravagance of the Queen--The "Pot de Vin"-- The royal letter--Evil influences--Henry endeavours to effect a reconciliation with the Queen--Difficult diplomacy--A temporary calm--Renewed differences--A minister at fault--Mademoiselle de la Bourdaisiere--Mademoiselle de Beuil--Jealousy of Madame de Verneuil--Conspiracy of the Comte d'Auvergne--Intemperance of the Queen--Timely interference--Confidence accorded by the Queen to Sully--A dangerous suggestion--Sully reconciles the royal couple--Madame de Verneuil is exiled from the Court--She joins the conspiracy of her brother--The forged contract--Apology of the Comte d'Entragues--Promises of Philip of Spain to the conspirators--Duplicity of the Comte d'Auvergne--He is pardoned by the King--His treachery suspected by M.de Lomenie--D'Auvergne escapes to his government:--Is made prisoner and conveyed to the Bastille--His self-confidence--A devoted wife--The requirements of a prisoner--Hidden documents--The treaty with Spain--The Comtesse d'Entragues--Haughty demeanour of Madame de Verneuil--The mistress and the minister--Mortification of Sully--Marriage of Mademoiselle de Beuil--Henry embellishes the city of Paris and undertakes other great national works.
A few weeks after the birth of Madame Elisabeth the Court returned to Paris, where, in honour of the little Princess, several ballets were danced and a grand banquet was given to the sovereigns by the nobility; but the heart of the Queen was too full of chagrin to enable her to assist with even a semblance of gratification at the festivities in which those around her were absorbed.

The new-born tenderness lately exhibited by her husband had gradually diminished; while the assumption of the favourite, who was once more in her turn about to become a mother, exceeded all decent limits.

The daily and almost hourly disputes between the royal couple were renewed with greater bitterness than ever, and when, on the 21st of January, Madame de Verneuil, like herself, and again under the same roof, gave birth to a daughter,[210] Marie de Medicis no longer attempted to suppress the violence of her indignation; nor was it until the King, alike chafed and bewildered by her upbraidings, declared that should she persist in rendering his existence one of perpetual turmoil and discomfort he would fulfil his former threat of compelling her to quit the kingdom, that he could induce her to desist from receiving him with complaints and reproaches.

Henry was aware that he had discovered, by the assertion of this resolve, a certain method of silencing his unfortunate consort, who, had she been childless, would in all probability gladly have sacrificed her ambition to her sense of dignity; but Marie was a mother, and she felt that her own destiny must be blended with that of her offspring.

Thus she had nothing left to her save to submit; and deeply as she suffered from the indignities which were heaped upon her as a wife, she shrank from a prospect so appalling as a separation from the innocent beings to whom she had given life.
Meanwhile the King, wearied alike of the exigencies of his mistress and the cold, unbending deportment of the Queen, again made approaches to Mademoiselle de Guise, upon whom he had already, a year or two previously, lavished all those attentions which bespoke alike his admiration and his designs; but he was not destined to be more successful with this lady than before, her intimacy with the Queen, to whose household she was attached, rendering her still more averse than formerly to encourage the licentious addresses of the monarch.