favourite having blighted all his prospects, he resolved upon revenge,
and as a first step offered his services to Marie de Medicis, by whom
they were accepted. The Queen-mother had no sooner formed her little
Court than the Abbé proceeded to lay the foundations of his plot, which
was based upon her return to power, and which he was well aware must
involve the ruin of De Luynes; while at the same time he felt satisfied
that he should be amply recompensed by Marie herself for his
services.[4] No opposition had been made to the self-banishment of
Rucellaï by the Court party, as he was well known to be in infirm health
and of effeminate habits; and to exhibit in every phase of his character
the very reverse of a conspirator. He had, moreover, made friends during
his residence in Paris; and, through the interest of Zamet, had obtained
the Abbey of Signy in Champagne, which, together with his family
inheritance, secured to him an annual income of twenty thousand crowns.
This revenue he spent in the most liberal manner, and soon became very
popular from the suavity and refinement of his manners, and his extreme
generosity. An affair of gallantry had, however, involved him in a
quarrel with the nephew of the Duc d'Epernon; who, espousing the cause
of his relative, in his turn excited the hatred of the Abbé.[5]

Rucellaï had been but a short time at Blois before he felt that he could
carry out his plans with greater facility in the capital than while
subjected to the constant surveillance of the Court spies by whom Marie
de Medicis was surrounded; and he accordingly obtained permission to
return to Court, De Luynes being easily induced to believe that his
application was caused by his weariness of the monotony of Blois, and
his desire to participate once more in the gaieties of Paris. The fact,
however, was far otherwise. The thirst for vengeance had produced a
singular effect upon the Florentine; and although he still affected to
enact the sybarite, in order to mislead those whom he sought to ruin, he