Richelieu was rather lofty than proud, and too clear-sighted to mistake the king's feelings towards him.

Never did he feel any confidence in his position; and never did he depart from his jealous and sometimes petty watchfulness.

Any influence foreign to his own disquieted him in proximity to a master whose affairs he governed altogether, without ever having been able to get the mastery over his melancholy and singular mind.
Women filled but a small space in the life of Louis XIII.

Twice, however, in that interval of ten years which separated the plot of Montmorency from that of Cinq-Mars, did the minister believe himself to be threatened by feminine influence; and twice he used artifice to win the monarch's heart and confidence from two young girls of his court, Louise de La Fayette and Marie d'Hautefort.

Both were maids of honor to the queen.