Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/157

Rh in the Rue Saint-Honoré, near the hôtel de Vendôme, and, if the cardinal should go without the Duke d'Orleans, to mount together with all these gentlemen, and attack him when passing the Capucins. "I was in the utmost anxiety," adds Campion, "until, on seeing the carriage of the Duke d'Orleans pass, I perceived the cardinal in the back with him."

Finally, the irritation of Beaufort having been carried to its height by the banishment of Madame de Montbazon, which without question took place on the 22d of August; and spurred on moreover by Madame de Chevreuse, by passion, and by a false sense of honor, the duke himself became impatient for action. Seeing that in the daytime he constantly encountered difficulties the cause of which he was very far from divining, he resolved to strike the blow during the night, and arranged an ambuscade which Campion has described to us. The cardinal went every evening to the palace of the queen, and returned quite late. They resolved to attack him on his return between the Louvre and the hôtel de Clèves. Horses were to be in readiness at some neighboring inn, and the duke himself was to stay there with Beaupuis and Campion while the minister was with the queen. As soon as he departed, the three were to advance and summon the others, who, meanwhile, were to remain mounted on the quay, by the side of the river, near the Louvre. All this could easily be done under cover of the night, without awakening any suspicion.

Reflect that he who furnishes these precise details was one of the principal conspirators, that he writes at a sufficient distance from the event, in safety, and, let us say once more, disinterestedly, fearing nothing more from Mazarin who has just died, and expecting nothing from him; reflect that in speaking as he does, he accuses his own brother; that, though he doubtless attributes to himself laudable intentions and even