The king made a gesture of impatience.

-Excuse me, sir, said the queen-mother, and go on, please.

Anne of Austria, at least as happy as Marie de Medici, but more mistress of herself by the habit she had to hide, laid her white hand trembling with emotion on the black satin dress its beautiful mother, to enjoin silence and circumspection.

The king said:

“My health, already shaky, was even worse during the siege of La Rochelle, which, with God’s help we have successfully concluded 152 but the effort exhausted me completely, and my doctor, my family and friends require me the promise of absolute rest, which can only give me the lack of business and the solitude of the countryside. “

Ah! said Marie de Medici by breathing in the chest, so he rests for the good of the kingdom and the peace of Europe.

-Mother! my mother! said the Duke of Orleans, who saw with alarm the angry eye of the king.

Anne pressed more strongly the knee of Mary.

Ah! said the latter, unable to control, you’ll never know what I fault this man, my son.