Was ever man placed in a more delicate position than this King of France, between the rival claims of his wife and mistress, who were occupying adjacent apartments, and who, moreover, were both about to become mothers?  It speaks well for Henri’s tactfulness that for a time at least this menage a trois appears to have been quite amiably conducted.  When Queen Marie gave birth to a son it was to Henriette that the infant’s father first confided the good news, seasoning it with “a million kisses” for herself.  And when Henriette, in turn, became a mother for the second time, the double Royal event was celebrated by fetes and rejoicings in which each lady took an equally proud and conspicuous part.

It was inevitable, however, that a woman so favoured by the King, and of so imperious a nature, should have enemies at Court; and it was not long before she became the object of a conspiracy of which the Duchesse de Villars and the Queen were the arch-leaders.  One day a bundle of letters was sent anonymously to Henri, letters full of tenderness and passion, addressed by his beloved Marquise, Henriette, to the Prince de Joinville.  The King was furious at such evidence of his mistress’s disloyalty, and vowed he would never see her again.  But all his storming and reproaches left the Marquise unmoved.  She declared, with scorn in her voice, that the letters were forgeries; that she had never written to Joinville in her life, nor spoken a word to him that His Majesty might not have heard.  She even pointed out the forger, the Duc de Guise’s secretary, and was at last able to convince the King of her innocence.

The Duchesse de Villars and Joinville were banished from the Court in disgrace; the Queen had a severe lecture from her husband; and Henriette was not only restored to full favour, but was consoled by a welcome present of six thousand pounds.

But the days of peace in the King’s household were now gone for ever.  Queen Marie, thus humiliated by her rival, became her bitter enemy and also a thorn in the side of her unfaithful husband.  Every day brought its fierce quarrels which only stopped on the verge of violence.  More than once in fact Henri had to beat a retreat before his Queen’s clenched fist, while she lost no opportunity of insulting and humiliating the Marquise.

It is impossible altogether to withhold sympathy from a man thus distracted between two jealous women—­a shrewish wife, who in her most amiable mood repelled his advances with coldness and cutting words, and a mistress who vented on him all the resentment which the Queen’s insults and snubs roused in her.  Even all Sully’s diplomacy was powerless to pour oil on such vexed waters as these.

The Queen, however, had not long to wait for her revenge, which came with the disclosure of a conspiracy, at the head of which were Henriette’s father and her half-brother, the Comte d’Auvergne, and in which, it was proved, she herself had played no insignificant part.  Punishment came, swift and terrible.  Her father and brother were sentenced to death, herself to perpetual confinement in a monastery.