A few weeks after the birth of Madame Elizabeth, the court returned to Paris; where, in honour of the little Princess, several ballets were danced, and a grand banquet was given to the sovereigns by the nobility; but the heart of the Queen was too full of chagrin to enable her to assist with even a semblance of gratification in the festivities by which those around her were absorbed. The new-born tenderness lately exhibited by her husband had gradually diminished; while the assumption of the favourite, who was once more in her turn about to become a mother, exceeded all decent limits. The daily, and almost hourly disputes between the royal couple were renewed with greater bitterness than ever ; and when, on the 21st of January, Madame de Verneuil, like herself, and again under the same roof, gave birth to a daughter, Marie de Medicis no longer attempted to suppress the violence of her indignation; nor was it until the King, alike chafed and bewildered by her upbraidings, declared that should she persist in rendering his existence one of perpetual turmoil and discomfort, he would fulfil his former threat of compelling her to quit the kingdom, that he could induce her to desist from receiving him with complaints and reproaches.