CHAPTER XII.
1635-38 Richelieu resolves to accomplish the disgrace of Puylaurens--Gaston proceeds to Paris during the Carnival, and his favourite is arrested in the Louvre-He is conveyed to Vincennes, where he dies--The Queen-mother and Madame take up their abode at Antwerp--Marie de Medicis solicits the protection of the Pope--Her letter is coldly received--She is accused by Richelieu of favouring the Spanish cause--She endeavours to dissuade Louis XIII from a war with Spain, and her arguments are haughtily repulsed--Her envoy is ordered to quit the capital--The Queen-mother once more appeals to the Sovereign-Pontiff, who declines to excite against himself the enmity of the Cardinal-Minister--Louis XIII pursues the war with Spain--Monsieur and the Comte de Soissons enter into a conspiracy to assassinate Richelieu--The Queen-mother joins the faction--The plot is betrayed--Gaston returns to his allegiance--Marie de Medicis induces the Comte de Soissons to enter into a treaty with Spain--The intrigue is discovered by the Cardinal--The Queen-mother once more solicits an asylum in England--Charles I.accedes to her request, and endeavours to effect her reconciliation with the French King--Richelieu determines Louis to reply by a refusal--Monsieur abandons his wife, who becomes dependent for her support upon the Spanish Government--Insignificance of Gaston--The Duchess of Savoy endeavours to effect the recall of her royal mother to France--The three Churchmen--Pregnancy of Anne of Austria--Renewed hopes of the Queen-mother--She is again urged to reside in Tuscany--She proceeds to Holland, and is magnificently received--The Prince of Orange intercedes in her behalf with the French King--Richelieu reiterates his wish that she should retire to Florence--The Dutch request her to leave the country--Marie de Medicis embarks for England--She is received at Gravesend by Charles I .-- Takes up her abode in St.James's Palace--Meeting between the two Queens--Precarious position of the English King--The Court of the Queen-mother--The French Ambassador is instructed to abstain from all intercourse with the royal exile--A last appeal---Obduracy of the Cardinal--Richelieu, his sovereign, and his benefactress..