time she considered an alliance with France as Charles's best security for remaining on what she thought his most uncertain throne. The marriage, too, met her approval; the dower offered was enormous; and she was, moreover, influenced by the present flattery of the Mazarin family; and intending, as she did, to fix her residence in France, there might be a little private wish to conciliate, on her part, the powers that were. There was another motive, too, the most powerful of all—she was devotedly attached to the young princess, her only daughter; and the lure held out, of her marriage with Monsieur, was the strongest inducement to secure her warmest efforts in a cause likely to promote a project so dear to her hopes. Madame de Soissons attended her, for the Cardinal thought he could trust her talents for intrigue. Moreover, her going was a sufficient reason for Hortense accompanying her; and Mazarin hoped as much from her beautiful face as from all the other potent reasons with which he had charged his negotiators.
In the Queen Mother's suite was Lord Craven, one of those most devoted lovers who sometimes illumine the page of history with an episode which seems taken from the olden chronicles of chivalry. It is the fate of some women to inspire those deep
