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+*****The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Princess of Cleves*****
+by Madame de Lafayette
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+The Princess of Cleves
+
+by Madame de Lafayette
+
+March, 1996  [Etext #467]
+
+*****The Project Gutenberg Etext of THE PRINCESS OF CLEVES*****
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+
+
+THE PRINCESS OF CLEVES by Madame de Lafayette
+
+
+
+THE PRINCESS OF CLEVES
+
+Grandeur and gallantry never appeared with more lustre in France,
+than in the last years of Henry the Second's reign.  This Prince
+was amorous and handsome, and though his passion for Diana of
+Poitiers Duchess of Valentinois, was of above twenty years
+standing, it was not the less violent, nor did he give less
+distinguishing proofs of it.
+
+As he was happily turned to excel in bodily exercises, he took a
+particular delight in them, such as hunting, tennis, running at
+the ring, and the like diversions.  Madam de Valentinois gave
+spirit to all entertainments of this sort, and appeared at them
+with grace and beauty equal to that of her grand-daughter, Madam
+de la Marke, who was then unmarried; the Queen's presence seemed
+to authorise hers.
+
+The Queen was handsome, though not young; she loved grandeur,
+magnificence and pleasure; she was married to the King while he
+was Duke of Orleans, during the life of his elder brother the
+Dauphin, a prince whose great qualities promised in him a worthy
+successor of his father Francis the First.
+
+The Queen's ambitious temper made her taste the sweets of
+reigning, and she seemed to bear with perfect ease the King's
+passion for the Duchess of Valentinois, nor did she express the
+least jealousy of it; but she was so skilful a dissembler, that
+it was hard to judge of her real sentiments, and policy obliged
+her to keep the duchess about her person, that she might draw the
+King to her at the same time.  This Prince took great delight in
+the conversation of women, even of such as he had no passion for;
+for he was every day at the Queen's court, when she held her
+assembly, which was a concourse of all that was beautiful and
+excellent in either sex.
+
+Never were finer women or more accomplished men seen in any
+Court, and Nature seemed to have taken pleasure in lavishing her
+greatest graces on the greatest persons.  The Princess Elizabeth,
+since Queen of Spain, began now to manifest an uncommon wit, and
+to display those beauties, which proved afterwards so fatal to
+her.  Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, who had just married the
+Dauphin, and was called the Queen-Dauphin, had all the
+perfections of mind and body; she had been educated in the Court
+of France, and had imbibed all the politeness of it; she was by
+nature so well formed to shine in everything that was polite,
+that notwithstanding her youth, none surpassed her in the most
+refined accomplishments.  The Queen, her mother-in-law, and the
+King's sister, were also extreme lovers of music, plays and
+poetry; for the taste which Francis the First had for the Belles
+Lettres was not yet extinguished in France; and as his son was
+addicted to exercises, no kind of pleasure was wanting at Court. 
+But what rendered this Court so splendid, was the presence of so
+many great Princes, and persons of the highest quality and merit:
+those I shall name, in their different characters, were the
+admiration and ornament of their age.
+
+The King of Navarre drew to himself the respect of all the world
+both by the greatness of his birth, and by the dignity that
+appeared in his person; he was remarkable for his skill and
+courage in war.  The Duke of Guise had also given proofs of
+extraordinary valour, and had, been so successful, that there was
+not a general who did not look upon him with envy; to his valour
+he added a most exquisite genius and understanding, grandeur of
+mind, and a capacity equally turned for military or civil
+affairs.  His brother, the Cardinal of Loraine, was a man of
+boundless ambition, and of extraordinary wit and eloquence, and
+had besides acquired a vast variety of learning, which enabled
+him to make himself very considerable by defending the Catholic
+religion, which began to be attacked at that time.  The Chevalier
+de Guise, afterwards called Grand Prior, was a prince beloved by
+all the world, of a comely person, full of wit and address, and
+distinguished through all Europe for his valour.  The Prince of
+Conde, though little indebted to Nature in his person, had a
+noble soul, and the liveliness of his wit made him amiable even
+in the eyes of the finest women.  The Duke of Nevers,
+distinguished by the high employments he had possessed, and by
+the glory he had gained in war, though in an advanced age, was
+yet the delight of the Court: he had three sons very
+accomplished; the second, called the Prince of Cleves, was worthy
+to support the honour of his house; he was brave and generous,
+and showed a prudence above his years.  The Viscount de Chartres,
+descended of the illustrious family of Vendome, whose name the
+Princes of the blood have thought it no dishonour to wear, was
+equally distinguished for gallantry; he was genteel, of a fine
+mien, valiant, generous, and all these qualities he possessed in
+a very uncommon degree; in short, if anyone could be compared to
+the Duke de Nemours, it was he.  The Duke de Nemours was a
+masterpiece of Nature; the beauty of his person, inimitable as it
+was, was his least perfection; what placed him above other men,
+was a certain agreeableness in his discourse, his actions, his
+looks, which was observable in none beside himself: he had in his
+behaviour a gaiety that was equally pleasing to men and women; in
+his exercises he was very expert; and in dress he had a peculiar
+manner, which was followed by all the world, but could never be
+imitated: in fine, such was the air of his whole person, that it
+was impossible to fix one's eye on anything else, wherever he
+was.  There was not a lady at Court, whose vanity would not have
+been gratified by his address; few of those whom he addressed,
+could boast of having resisted him; and even those for whom he
+expressed no passion, could not forbear expressing one for him:
+his natural gaiety and disposition to gallantry was so great,
+that he could not refuse some part of his cares and attention to
+those who made it their endeavour to please him; and accordingly
+he had several mistresses, but it was hard to guess which of them
+was in possession of his heart: he made frequent visits to the
+Queen-Dauphin; the beauty of this princess, the sweetness of her
+temper, the care she took to oblige everybody, and the particular
+esteem she expressed for the Duke de Nemours, gave ground to
+believe that he had raised his views even to her.  Messieurs de
+Guise, whose niece she was, had so far increased their authority
+and reputation by this match, that their ambition prompted them
+to aspire at an equality with the Princes of the blood, and to
+share in power with the Constable Montmorency.  The King
+entrusted the Constable with the chief share in the
+administration of the Government, and treated the Duke of Guise
+and the Mareschal de St. Andre as his favourites; but whether
+favour or business admitted men to his presence, they could not
+preserve that privilege without the good-liking of the Duchess of
+Valentinois; for though she was no longer in possession of either
+of youth or beauty, she yet reigned so absolutely in his heart,
+that his person and state seemed entirely at her disposal.
+
+The King had such an affection for the Constable, that he was no
+sooner possessed of the Government, but he recalled him from the
+banishment he had been sent into by Francis the First: thus was
+the Court divided between Messieurs de Guise, and the Constable,
+who was supported by the Princes of the blood, and both parties
+made it their care to gain the Duchess of Valentinois.  The Duke
+d'Aumale, the Duke of Guise's brother, had married one of her
+daughters, and the Constable aspired to the fame alliance; he was
+not contented with having married his eldest son with Madam
+Diana, the King's daughter by a Piemontese lady, who turned nun
+as soon as she was brought to bed.  This marriage had met with a
+great many obstacles from the promises which Monsieur Montmorency
+had made to Madam de Piennes, one of the maids of honour to the
+Queen; and though the King had surmounted them with extreme
+patience and goodness, the Constable did not think himself
+sufficiently established, unless he secured Madam de Valentinois
+in his interest, and separated her from Messieurs de Guise, whose
+greatness began to give her uneasiness.  The Duchess had
+obstructed as much as she could the marriage of the Dauphin with
+the Queen of Scotland; the beauty and forward wit of that young
+Queen, and the credit which her marriage gave to Messieurs de
+Guise, were insupportable to her; she in particular hated the
+Cardinal of Loraine, who had spoken to her with severity, and
+even with contempt; she was sensible he took the party of the
+Queen, so that the Constable found her very well disposed to
+unite her interests with his and to enter into alliance with him,
+by marrying her granddaughter Madam de la Marke with Monsieur
+d'Anville, his second son, who succeeded him in his employment
+under the reign of Charles the Ninth.  The Constable did not
+expect to find the same disinclination to marriage in his second
+son which he had found in his eldest, but he proved mistaken. 
+The Duke d'Anville was desperately in love with the
+Dauphin-Queen, and how little hope soever he might have of
+succeeding in his passion, he could not prevail with himself to
+enter into an engagement that would divide his cares.  The
+Mareschal de St. Andre was the only person in the Court that had
+not listed in either party: he was a particular favourite, and
+the King had a personal affection for him; he had taken a liking
+to him ever since he was Dauphin, and created him a Mareschal of
+France at an age in which others rarely obtain the least
+dignities.  His favour with the King gave him a lustre which he
+supported by his merit and the agreeableness of his person, by a
+splendour in his table and furniture, and by the most profuse
+magnificence that ever was known in a private person, the King's
+liberality enabling him to bear such an expense.  This Prince was
+bounteous even to prodigality to those he favoured, and though he
+had not all the great qualities, he had very many; particularly
+he took delight and had great skill in military affairs; he was
+also successful, and excepting the Battle of St. Quintin, his
+reign had been a continued series of victory; he won in person
+the Battle of Renti, Piemont was conquered, the English were
+driven out of France, and the Emperor Charles V found his good
+fortune decline before the walls of Mets, which he besieged in
+vain with all the forces of the Empire, and of Spain: but the
+disgrace received at St. Quintin lessened the hopes we had of
+extending our conquests, and as fortune seemed to divide herself
+between two Kings, they both found themselves insensibly disposed
+to peace.
+
+The Duchess Dowager of Loraine had made some overtures about the
+time of the Dauphin's marriage, since which a secret negotiation
+had been constantly carried on; in fine, Coran in Artois was the
+place appointed for the treaty; the Cardinal of Loraine, the
+Constable Montmorency, and the Mareschal de St. Andre were
+plenipotentaries for the King; the Duke of Alva, and the Prince
+of Orange for Philip the II, and the Duke and Duchess of Loraine
+were mediators.  The principal articles were the marriage of the
+Princess Elizabeth of France with Don Carlos the Infanta of
+Spain, and that of his majesty's sister with the Duke of Savoy.
+
+The King, during the Treaty, continued on the frontiers, where he
+received the news of the death of Queen Mary of England; his
+Majesty dispatched forthwith the Count de Randan to Queen
+Elizabeth, to congratulate her on her accession to the Crown, and
+they received him with great distinction; for her affairs were so
+precarious at that time, that nothing could be more advantageous
+to her, than to see her title acknowledged by the King.  The
+Count found she had a thorough knowledge of the interests of the
+French Court, and of the characters of those who composed it; but
+in particular, she had a great idea of the Duke of Nemours: she
+spoke to him so often, and with so much ernestness concerning
+him, that the Ambassador upon his return declared to the King,
+that there was nothing which the Duke of Nemours might not expect
+from that Princess, and that he made no question she might even
+be brought to marry him.  The King communicated it to the Duke
+the same evening, and caused the Count de Randan to relate to him
+all the conversations he had had with Queen Elizabeth, and in
+conclusion advised him to push his fortune: the Duke of Nemours
+imagined at first that the King was not in earnest, but when he
+found to the contrary, "If, by your advice, Sir," said he, "I
+engage in this chimerical undertaking for your Majesty's service,
+I must entreat your Majesty to keep the affair secret, till the
+success of it shall justify me to the public; I would not be
+thought guilty of the intolerable vanity, to think that a Queen,
+who has never seen me, would marry me for love."  The King
+promised to let nobody into the design but the Constable, secrecy
+being necessary, he knew, to the success of it.  The Count de
+Randan advised the Duke to go to England under pretence of
+travelling; but the Duke disapproving this proposal, sent Mr.
+Lignerol, a sprightly young gentleman, his favourite, to sound
+the Queen's inclinations, and to endeavour to make some steps
+towards advancing that affair: in the meantime, he paid a visit
+to the Duke of Savoy, who was then at Brussels with the King of
+Spain.  The death of Queen Mary brought great obstructions to the
+Treaty; the Congress broke up at the end of November, and the
+King returned to Paris.
+
+There appeared at this time a lady at Court, who drew the eyes of
+the whole world; and one may imagine she was a perfect beauty, to
+gain admiration in a place where there were so many fine women;
+she was of the same family with the Viscount of Chartres, and one
+of the greatest heiresses of France, her father died young, and
+left her to the guardianship of Madam de Chartres his wife, whose
+wealth, virtue, and merit were uncommon.  After the loss of her
+husband she retired from Court, and lived many years in the
+country; during this retreat, her chief care was bestowed in the
+education of her daughter; but she did not make it her business
+to cultivate her wit and beauty only, she took care also to
+inculcate virtue into her tender mind, and to make it amiable to
+her.  The generality of mothers imagine, that it is sufficient to
+forbear talking of gallantries before young people, to prevent
+their engaging in them; but Madam de Chartres was of a different
+opinion, she often entertained her daughter with descriptions of
+love; she showed her what there was agreeable in it, that she
+might the more easily persuade her wherein it was dangerous; she
+related to her the insincerity, the faithlessness, and want of
+candour in men, and the domestic misfortunes that flow from
+engagements with them; on the other hand she made her sensible,
+what tranquillity attends the life of a virtuous woman, and what
+lustre modesty gives to a person who possesses birth and beauty;
+at the same time she informed her, how difficult it was to
+perserve this virtue, except by an extreme distrust of one's
+self, and by a constant attachment to the only thing which
+constitutes a woman's happiness, to love and to be loved by her
+husband.
+
+This heiress was, at that time, one of the greatest matches in
+France, and though she was very young several marriages had been
+proposed to her mother; but Madam de Chartres being ambitious,
+hardly thought anything worthy of her daughter, and when she was
+sixteen years of age she brought her to Court.  The Viscount of
+Chartres, who went to meet her, was with reason surprised at the
+beauty of the young lady; her fine hair and lovely complexion
+gave her a lustre that was peculiar to herself; all her features
+were regular, and her whole person was full of grace.
+
+The day after her arrival, she went to choose some jewels at a
+famous Italian's; this man came from Florence with the Queen, and
+had acquired such immense riches by his trade, that his house
+seemed rather fit for a Prince than a merchant; while she was
+there, the Prince of Cleves came in, and was so touched with her
+beauty, that he could not dissemble his surprise, nor could
+Mademoiselle de Chartres forbear blushing upon observing the
+astonishment he was in; nevertheless, she recollected herself,
+without taking any further notice of him than she was obliged to
+do in civility to a person of his seeming rank; the Prince of
+Cleves viewed her with admiration, and could not comprehend who
+that fine lady was, whom he did not know.  He found by her air,
+and her retinue, that she was of the first quality; by her youth
+he should have taken her to be a maid, but not seeing her mother,
+and hearing the Italian call her madam, he did not know what to
+think; and all the while he kept his eyes fixed upon her, he
+found that his behaviour embarrassed her, unlike to most young
+ladies, who always behold with pleasure the effect of their
+beauty; he found too, that he had made her impatient to be going,
+and in truth she went away immediately: the Prince of Cleves was
+not uneasy at himself on having lost the view of her, in hopes of
+being informed who she was; but when he found she was not known,
+he was under the utmost surprise; her beauty, and the modest air
+he had observed in her actions, affected him so, that from that
+moment he entertained a passion for her.  In the evening he
+waited on his Majesty's sister.
+
+This Princess was in great consideration by reason of her
+interest with the King her brother; and her authority was so
+great, that the King, on concluding the peace, consented to
+restore Piemont, in order to marry her with the Duke of Savoy. 
+Though she had always had a disposition to marry, yet would she
+never accept of anything beneath a sovereign, and for this reason
+she refused the King of Navarre, when he was Duke of Vendome, and
+always had a liking for the Duke of Savoy; which inclination for
+him she had preserved ever since she saw him at Nice, at the
+interview between Francis I, and Pope Paul III.  As she had a
+great deal of wit, and a fine taste of polite learning, men of
+ingenuity were always about her, and at certain times the whole
+Court resorted to her apartments.
+
+The Prince of Cleves went there according to his custom; he was
+so touched with the wit and beauty of Mademoiselle de Chartres,
+that he could talk of nothing else; he related his adventure
+aloud, and was never tired with the praises of this lady, whom he
+had seen, but did not know; Madame told him, that there was
+nobody like her he described, and that if there were, she would
+be known by the whole world.  Madam de Dampiere, one of the
+Princess's ladies of honour, and a friend of Madam de Chartres,
+overhearing the conversation, came up to her Highness, and
+whispered her in the ear, that it was certainly Mademoiselle de
+Chartres whom the Prince had seen.  Madame, returning to her
+discourse with the Prince, told him, if he would give her his
+company again the next morning, he should see the beauty he was
+so much touched with.  Accordingly Mademoiselle de Chartres came
+the next day to Court, and was received by both Queens in the
+most obliging manner that can be imagined, and with such
+admiration by everybody else, that nothing was to be heard at
+Court but her praises, which she received with so agreeable a
+modesty, that she seemed not to have heard them, or at least not
+to be moved with them.  She afterwards went to wait upon Madame;
+that Princess, after having commended her beauty, informed her of
+the surprise she had given the Prince of Cleves; the Prince came
+in immediately after; "Come hither," said she to him, "see, if
+I have not kept my word with you, and if at the same time that I
+show you Mademoiselle de Chartres, I don't show you the lady you
+are in search of.  You ought to thank me, at least, for having
+acquainted her how much you are her admirer."
+
+The Prince of Cleves was overjoyed to find that the lady he
+admired was of quality equal to her beauty; he addressed her, and
+entreated her to remember that he was her first lover, and had
+conceived the highest honour and respect for her, before he knew
+her.
+
+The Chevalier de Guise, and the Prince, who were two bosom
+friends, took their leave of Madame together.  They were no
+sooner gone but they began to launch out into the praises of
+Mademoiselle de Chartres, without bounds; they were sensible at
+length that they had run into excess in her commendation, and so
+both gave over for that time; but they were obliged the next day
+to renew the subject, for this new-risen beauty long continued to
+supply discourse to the whole Court; the Queen herself was lavish
+in her praise, and showed her particular marks of favour; the
+Queen-Dauphin made her one of her favourites, and begged her
+mother to bring her often to her Court; the Princesses, the
+King's daughters, made her a party in all their diversions; in
+short, she had the love and admiration of the whole Court, except
+that of the Duchess of Valentinois: not that this young beauty
+gave her umbrage; long experience convinced her she had nothing
+to fear on the part of the King, and she had to great a hatred
+for the Viscount of Chartres, whom she had endeavoured to bring
+into her interest by marrying him with one of her daughters, and
+who had joined himself to the Queen's party, that she could not
+have the least favourable thought of a person who bore his name,
+and was a great object of his friendship.
+
+The Prince of Cleves became passionately in love with
+Mademoiselle de Chartres, and ardently wished to marry her, but
+he was afraid the haughtiness of her mother would not stoop to
+match her with one who was not the head of his family:
+nevertheless his birth was illustrious, and his elder brother,
+the Count d'En, had just married a lady so nearly related to the
+Royal family, that this apprehension was rather the effect of his
+love, than grounded on any substantial reason.  He had a great
+number of rivals; the most formidable among them, for his birth,
+his merit, and the lustre which Royal favour cast upon his house,
+was the Chevalier de Guise; this gentleman fell in love with
+Mademoiselle de Chartres the first day he saw her, and he
+discovered the Prince of Cleves's passion as the Prince of Cleves
+discovered his.  Though they were intimate friends, their having
+the same pretentions gradually created a coolness between them,
+and their friendship grew into an indifference, without their
+being able to come to an explanation on the matter.  The Prince
+of Cleves's good fortune in having seen Mademoiselle de Chartres
+first seemed to be a happy presage, and gave him some advantage
+over his rivals, but he foresaw great obstructions on the part of
+the Duke of Nevers his father: the Duke was strictly attached to
+the Duchess of Valentinois, and the Viscount de Chartres was her
+enemy, which was a sufficient reason to hinder the Duke from
+consenting to the marriage of his son, with a niece of the
+Viscount's.
+
+Madam de Chartres, who had taken so much care to inspire virtue
+into her daughter, did not fail to continue the same care in a
+place where it was so necessary, and where there were so many
+dangerous examples.  Ambition and gallantry were the soul of the
+Court, and employed both sexes equally; there were so many
+different interests and so many cabals, and the ladies had so
+great a share in them, that love was always mixed with business,
+and business with love: nobody was easy, or indifferent; their
+business was to raise themselves, to be agreeable, to serve or
+disserve; and intrigue and pleasure took up their whole time. 
+The care of the ladies was to recommend themselves either to the
+Queen, the Dauphin-Queen, or the Queen of Navarre, or to Madame,
+or the Duchess of Valentinois.  Inclination, reasons of decorum,
+resemblance of temper made their applications different; those
+who found the bloom worn off, and who professed an austerity of
+virtue, were attached to the Queen; the younger sort, who loved
+pleasure and gallantry, made their Court to the Queen-Dauphin;
+the Queen of Navarre too had her favourites, she was young, and
+had great power with the King her husband, who was in the
+interest of the Constable, and by that means increased his
+authority; Madame was still very beautiful, and drew many ladies
+into her party.  And as for the Duchess of Valentinois, she could
+command as many as she would condescend to smile upon; but very
+few women were agreeable to her, and excepting some with whom she
+lived in confidence and familiarity, and whose humour was
+agreeable to her own, she admitted none but on days when she
+gratified her vanity in having a Court in the same manner the
+Queen had.
+
+All these different cabals were full of emulation and envy
+towards one another; the ladies, who composed them, had their
+jealousies also among themselves, either as to favour or lovers:
+the interests of ambition were often blended with concerns of
+less importance, but which did not affect less sensibly; so that
+in this Court there was a sort of tumult without disorder, which
+made it very agreeable, but at the same time very dangerous for a
+young lady.  Madam de Chartres perceived the danger, and was
+careful to guard her daughter from it; she entreated her, not as
+a mother, but as her friend, to impart to her all the gallantry
+she should meet withal, promising her in return to assist her in
+forming her conduct right, as to things in which young people are
+oftentimes embarrassed.
+
+The Chevalier de Guise was so open and unguarded with respect to
+his passion for Mademoiselle de Chartres, that nobody was
+ignorant of it: nevertheless he saw nothing but impossibilities
+in what he desired; he was sensible that he was not a proper
+match for Mademoiselle de Chartres, by reason of the narrowness
+of his fortune, which was not sufficient to support his dignity;
+and he was sensible besides, that his brothers would not approve
+of his marrying, the marriages of younger brothers being looked
+upon as what tends to the lessening great families; the Cardinal
+of Loraine soon convinced him, that he was not mistaken; he
+condemned his attachment to Mademoiselle de Chartres with warmth,
+but did not inform him of his true reasons for so doing; the
+Cardinal, it seems, had a hatred to the Viscount, which was not
+known at that time, but afterwards discovered itself; he would
+rather have consented to any other alliance for his brother than
+to that of the Viscount; and he declared his aversion to it in so
+public a manner, that Madam de Chartres was sensibly disgusted at
+it.  She took a world of pains to show that the Cardinal of
+Loraine had nothing to fear, and that she herself had no thoughts
+of this marriage; the Viscount observed the same conduct, and
+resented that of the Cardinal more than Madam de Chartres did,
+being better apprised of the cause of it.
+
+The Prince of Cleves had not given less public proofs of his
+love, than the Chevalier de Guise had done, which made the Duke
+of Nevers very uneasy; however he thought that he needed only to
+speak to his son, to make him change his conduct; but he was very
+much surprised to find him in a settled design of marrying
+Mademoiselle de Chartres, and flew out into such excesses of
+passion on that subject, that the occasion of it was soon known
+to the whole Court, and among others to Madam de Chartres: she
+never imagined that the Duke of Nevers would not think her
+daughter a very advantageous match for his son, nor was she a
+little astonished to find that the houses both of Cleves and
+Guise avoided her alliance, instead of courting it.  Her
+resentment on this account put her upon finding out a match for
+her daughter, which would raise her above those that imagined
+themselves above her; after having looked about, she fixed upon
+the Prince Dauphin, son of the Duke de Montpensier, one of the
+most considerable persons then at Court.  As Madam de Chartres
+abounded in wit, and was assisted by the Viscount, who was in
+great consideration, and as her daughter herself was a very
+considerable match, she managed the matter with so much dexterity
+and success, that Monsieur de Montpensier appeared to desire the
+marriage, and there was no appearance of any difficulties in it.
+
+The Viscount, knowing the power the Dauphin-Queen had over
+Monsieur d'Anville, thought it not amiss to employ the interest
+of that Princess to engage him to serve Mademoiselle de Chartres,
+both with the King and the Prince de Montpensier, whose intimate
+friend he was: he spoke to the Dauphin-Queen about it, and she
+entered with joy into an affair which concerned the promotion of
+a lady for whom she had a great affection; she expressed as much
+to the Viscount, and assured him, that though she knew she should
+do what was disagreeable to the Cardinal of Loraine her uncle,
+she would pass over that consideration with pleasure, because she
+had reasons of complaint against him, since he every day more and
+more espoused the interest of the Queen against hers.
+
+Persons of gallantry are always glad of an opportunity of
+speaking to those who love them.  No sooner was the Viscount
+gone, but the Queen-Dauphin sent Chatelart to Monsieur d'Anville,
+to desire him from her to be at Court that evening.  Chatelart
+was his favourite, and acquainted with his passion for this
+Princess, and therefore received her commands with great pleasure
+and respect.  He was a gentleman of a good family in Dauphiny;
+but his wit and merit distinguished him more than his birth: he
+was well received at Court.  He was graceful in his person,
+perfect at all sorts of exercises; he sung agreeably, he wrote
+verses, and was of so amorous and gallant a temper, as endeared
+him to Monsieur d'Anville in such a degree, that he made him the
+confidant of his amours between the Queen-Dauphin and him; this
+confidence gave him access to that Princess, and it was owing to
+the frequent opportunities he had of seeing her, that he
+commenced that unhappy passion which deprived him of his reason,
+and at last cost him his life.
+
+Monsieur d'Anville did not fail to be at Court in the evening; he
+thought himself very happy, that the Queen-Dauphin had made
+choice of him to manage an affair she had at heart, and he
+promised to obey her commands with the greatest exactness.  But
+the Duchess of Valentinois being warned of the design in view,
+had traversed it with so much care, and prepossessed the King so
+much against it, that when Monsieur d'Anville came to speak to
+his Majesty about it, he plainly showed he did not approve of it,
+and commanded him to signify as much to the Prince de
+Montpensier.  One may easily judge what the sentiments of Madam
+de Chartres were, upon the breaking off of an affair which she
+had set her mind so much upon, and the ill success of which gave
+such an advantage to her enemies, and was so great a prejudice to
+her daughter.
+
+The Queen-Dauphin declared to Mademoiselle de Chartres, in a very
+friendly manner, the uneasiness she was in for not having been
+able to serve her:  "You see, Madam," said she to her, "that
+my interest is small; I am upon so ill terms with the Queen and
+the Duchess of Valentinois, that it is no wonder if they or their
+dependents still succeed in disappointing my desires;
+nevertheless, I have constantly used my endeavours to please
+them.  Indeed, they hate me not for my own sake, but for my
+mother's; she formerly gave them some jealousy and uneasiness;
+the King was in love with her before he was in love with the
+Duchess; and in the first years of his marriage, when he had no
+issue, he appeared almost resolved to be divorced from the Queen,
+in order to make room for my mother, though at the same time he
+had some affection for the Duchess.  Madam de Valentinois being
+jealous of a lady whom he had formerly loved, and whose wit and
+beauty were capable of lessening her interest, joined herself to
+the Constable, who was no more desirous than herself that the
+King should marry a sister of the Duke of Guise; they possessed
+the deceased King with their sentiments; and though he mortally
+hated the Duchess of Valentinois, and loved the Queen, he joined
+his endeavours with theirs to prevent the divorce; but in order
+to take from the King all thoughts of marrying the Queen my
+mother, they struck up a marriage between her and the King of
+Scotland, who had had for his first wife the King's sister, and
+they did this because it was the easiest to be brought to a
+conclusion, though they failed in their engagements to the King
+of England, who was very desirous of marrying her; and that
+failure wanted but little of occasioning a rupture between the
+two Crowns: for Henry the Eighth was inconsolable, when he found
+himself disappointed in his expectations of marrying my mother;
+and whatever other Princess of France was proposed to him, he
+always said, nothing could make him amends for her he had been
+deprived of.  It is certainly true, that my mother was a perfect
+beauty; and what is very remarkable, is, that being the widow of
+the Duke of Longueville, three Kings should court her in
+marriage.  Her ill fortune gave her to the least of them, and
+placed her in a kingdom where she meets with nothing but trouble. 
+They say I resemble her, but I fear I shall resemble her only in
+her unhappy destiny; and whatever fortune may seem to promise me
+at present, I can never think I shall enjoy it."
+
+Mademoiselle de Chartres answered the Queen, that these
+melancholy presages were so ill-grounded, that they would not
+disturb her long, and that she ought not to doubt but her good
+fortune would accomplish whatever it promised.
+
+No one now entertained any further thoughts of Mademoiselle de
+Chartres, either fearing to incur the King's displeasure, or
+despairing to succeed with a lady, who aspired to an alliance
+with a Prince of the blood.  The Prince of Cleves alone was not
+disheartened at either of these considerations; the death of the
+Duke of Nevers his father, which happened at that time, set him
+at entire liberty to follow his inclination, and no sooner was
+the time of mourning expired, but he wholly applied himself to
+the gaining of Mademoiselle de Chartres.  It was lucky for him
+that he addressed her at a time when what had happened had
+discouraged the approaches of others.  What allayed his joy was
+his fear of not being the most agreeable to her, and he would
+have preferred the happiness of pleasing to the certainty of
+marrying her without being beloved.
+
+The Chevalier de Guise had given him some jealousy, but as it was
+rather grounded on the merit of that Prince than on any action of
+Mademoiselle de Chartres, he made it his whole endeavour to
+discover, if he was so happy as to have his addresses admitted
+and approved: he had no opportunity of seeing her but at Court or
+public assemblies, so that it was very difficult for him to get a
+private conversation with her; at last he found means to do it,
+and informed her of his intention and of his love, with all the
+respect imaginable.  He urged her to acquaint him what the
+sentiments were which she had for him, assuring her, that those
+which he had for her were of such a nature as would render him
+eternally miserable, if she resigned herself wholly up to the
+will of her mother.
+
+As Mademoiselle de Chartres had a noble and generous heart, she
+was sincerely touched with gratitude for the Prince of Cleves's
+behaviour; this gratitude gave a certain sweetness to her words
+and answers, sufficient to furnish hopes to a man so desperately
+enamoured as the Prince was, so that he flattered himself in some
+measure that he should succeed in what he so much wished for.
+
+She gave her mother an account of this conversation; and Madam de
+Chartres told her, that the Prince of Cleves had so many good
+qualities, and discovered a discretion so much above his years,
+that if her inclination led her to marry him, she would consent
+to it with pleasure.  Mademoiselle de Chartres made answer, that
+she observed in him the same good qualities; that she should have
+less reluctance in marrying him than any other man, but that she
+had no particular affection to his person.
+
+The next day the Prince caused his thoughts to be communicated to
+Madam de Chartres, who gave her consent to what was proposed to
+her; nor had she the least distrust but that in the Prince of
+Cleves she provided her daughter a husband capable of securing
+her affections.  The articles were concluded; the King was
+acquainted with it, and the marriage made public.
+
+The Prince of Cleves found himself happy, but yet not entirely
+contented: he saw with a great deal of regret, that the
+sentiments of Mademoiselle de Chartres did not exceed those of
+esteem and respect, and he could not flatter himself that she
+concealed more obliging thoughts of him, since the situation they
+were in permitted her to discover them without the least violence
+done to modesty.  It was not long before he expostulated with her
+on this subject:  "Is it possible," says he, "that I should
+not be happy in marrying you? and yet it is certain, I am not. 
+You only show me a sort of civility which is far from giving me
+satisfaction; you express none of those pretty inquietudes, the
+concern, and impatience, which are the soul of love; you are no
+further affected with my passion, than you would be with one
+which flowed only from the advantage of your fortune, and not
+from the beauty of your person."  "It is unjust in you to
+complain," replied the Princess, "I don't know what you can
+desire of me more; I think decency will not allow me to go
+further than I do."  "It's true," replied he, "you show some
+appearances I should be satisfied with, were there anything
+beyond; but instead of being restrained by decency, it is that
+only which makes you act as you do; I am not in your heart and
+inclinations, and my presence neither gives you pain nor
+pleasure."  "You can't doubt," replied she, "but it is a
+sensible pleasure to me to see you, and when I do see you, I
+blush so often, that you can't doubt, but the seeing you gives me
+pain also."  "Your blushes, Madam," replied he, "cannot
+deceive me; they are signs of modesty, but do not prove the heart
+to be affected, and I shall conclude nothing more from hence than
+what I ought."
+
+Mademoiselle de Chartres did not know what to answer; these
+distinctions were above her comprehension.  The Prince of Cleves
+plainly saw she was far from having that tenderness of affection
+for him, which was requisite to his happiness; it was manifest
+she could not feel a passion which she did not understand.
+
+The Chevalier de Guise returned from a journey a few days before
+the marriage.  He saw so many insuperable difficulties in his
+design of marrying Mademoiselle de Chartres, that he gave over
+all hopes of succeeding in it; and yet he was extremely afflicted
+to see her become the wife of another: his grief however did not
+extinguish his passion; and his love was as great as ever. 
+Mademoiselle de Chartres was not ignorant of it; and he made her
+sensible at his return, that she was the cause of that deep
+melancholy which appeared in his countenance.  He had so much
+merit and so much agreeableness, that it was almost impossible to
+make him unhappy without pitying him, nor could she forbear
+pitying him; but her pity did not lead to love.  She acquainted
+her mother with the uneasiness which the Chevalier's passion gave
+her.
+
+Madam de Chartres admired the honour of her daughter, and she
+admired it with reason, for never was anyone more naturally
+sincere; but she was surprised, at the same time, at the
+insensibility of her heart, and the more so, when she found that
+the Prince of Cleves had not been able to affect her any more
+than others: for this reason, she took great pains to endear her
+husband to her, and to make her sensible how much she owed to the
+affection he had for her before he knew her, and to the
+tenderness he since expressed for her, by preferring her to all
+other matches, at a time when no one else durst entertain the
+least thoughts of her.
+
+The marriage was solemnised at the Louvre; and in the evening the
+King and the two Queens, with the whole Court, supped at Madam de
+Chartres's house, where they were entertained with the utmost
+magnificence.  The, Chevalier de Guise durst not distinguish
+himself by being absent from the ceremony, but he was so little
+master of himself that it was easy to observe his concern.
+
+The Prince of Cleves did not find that Mademoiselle de Chartres
+had changed her mind by changing her name; his quality of a
+husband entitled him to the largest privileges, but gave him no
+greater share in the affections of his wife: hence it was, that
+though he was her husband, he did not cease to be her lover,
+because he had always something to wish beyond what he possessed;
+and though she lived perfectly easy with him, yet he was not
+perfectly happy.  He preserved for her a passion full of violence
+and inquietude, but without jealousy, which had no share in his
+griefs.  Never was husband less inclined to it, and never was
+wife farther from giving the least occasion for it.  She was
+nevertheless constantly in view of the Court; she frequented the
+Courts of the two Queens, and of Madame: all the people of
+gallantry saw her both there and at her brother-in-law the Duke
+of Never's, whose house was open to the whole world; but she had
+an air which inspired so great respect, and had in it something
+so distant from gallantry, that the Mareschal de St. Andre, a
+bold man and supported by the King's favour, became her lover
+without daring to let her know it any otherwise than by his cares
+and assiduities.  A great many others were in the same condition:
+and Madam de Chartres had added to her daughter's discretion so
+exact a conduct with regard to everything of decorum, that
+everybody was satisfied she was not be be come at.
+
+The Duchess of Loraine, while she was employed in negotiating the
+peace, had applied herself to settle the marriage of the Duke her
+son: a marriage was agreed upon between him and Madam Claude of
+France, the King's second daughter; and the month of February was
+appointed for the nuptials.
+
+In the meantime the Duke of Nemours continued at Brussels, his
+thoughts being wholly employed on his design in England; he was
+continually sending or receiving couriers from thence; his hopes
+increased every day, and at last Lignerolly sent him word that it
+was time to finish by his presence what was so well begun; he
+received this news with all the joy a young ambitious man is
+capable of, who sees himself advanced to a throne merely by the
+force of his personal merit; his mind insensibly accustomed
+itself to the grandeur of a Royal State; and whereas he had at
+first rejected this undertaking as an impracticable thing, the
+difficulties of it were now worn out of his imagination, and he
+no longer saw anything to obstruct his way.
+
+He sent away in haste to Paris to give the necessary orders for
+providing a magnificent equipage, that he might make his
+appearance in England with a splendour suitable to the design he
+was to conduct; and soon after he followed himself, to assist at
+the marriage of the Duke of Loraine.
+
+He arrived the evening before the espousals, and that very
+evening waited on the King to give him an account of his affair,
+and to receive his orders and advice how to govern himself in it. 
+Afterwards he waited on the Queens; but the Princess of Cleves
+was not there, so that she did not see him, nor so much as know
+of his arrival.  She had heard everybody speak of this celebrated
+Prince, as of the handsomest and most agreeable man at Court; and
+the Queen-Dauphin had described him in such a manner, and spoke
+of him to her so often, that she had raised in her a curiosity
+and even impatience to see him.
+
+The Princess employed the day of the wedding in dressing herself,
+that she might appear with the greater advantage at the ball and
+royal banquet that were to be at the Louvre.  When she came,
+everyone admired both her beauty and her dress.  The ball began,
+and while she was dancing with the Duke of Guise, a noise was
+heard at the door of the hall, as if way was making for some
+person of uncommon distinction.  She had finished her dance, and
+as she was casting her eyes round to single out some other
+person, the King desired her to take him who came in last; she
+turned about, and viewing him as he was passing over the seats to
+come to the place where they danced, she immediately concluded he
+was the Duke of Nemours.  The Duke's person was turned in so
+delicate a manner, that it was impossible not to express surprise
+at the first sight of him, particularly that evening, when the
+care he had taken to adorn himself added much to the fine air of
+his carriage.  It was as impossible to behold the Princess of
+Cleves without equal admiration.
+
+The Duke de Nemours was struck with such surprise at her beauty,
+that when they approached and paid their respects to each other,
+he could not forbear showing some tokens of his admiration.  When
+they begun to dance, a soft murmur of praises ran through the
+whole company.  The King and the two Queens, remembering that the
+Duke and Princess had never seen one another before, found
+something very particular in seeing them dance together without
+knowing each other; they called them, as soon as they had ended
+their dance, without giving them time to speak to anybody, and
+asked them if they had not a desire to know each other, and if
+they were not at some loss about it.  "As for me, Madam," said
+the Duke to the Queen, "I am under no uncertainty in this
+matter; but as the Princess of Cleves has not the same reasons to
+lead her to guess who I am, as I have to direct me to know her, I
+should be glad if your Majesty would be pleased to let her know
+my name."  "I believe," said the Queen-Dauphin, "that she
+knows your name as well as you know hers."  "I assure you,
+Madam," replied the Princess a little embarrassed, "that I am
+not so good a guesser as you imagine."  "Yes, you guess very
+well," answered the Queen-Dauphin; "and your unwillingness to
+acknowledge that you know the Duke of Nemours, without having
+seen him before, carries in it something very obliging to him." 
+The Queen interrupted them, that the ball might go on; and the
+Duke de Nemours took out the Queen-Dauphin.  This Princess was a
+perfect beauty, and such she appeared in the eyes of the Duke de
+Nemours, before he went to Flanders; but all this evening he
+could admire nothing but Madam de Cleves.
+
+The Chevalier de Guise, whose idol she still was, sat at her
+feet, and what had passed filled him with the utmost grief; he
+looked upon it as ominous for him, that fortune had destined the
+Duke of Nemours to be in love with the Princess of Cleves.  And
+whether there appeared in reality any concern in the Princess's
+face, or whether the Chevalier's jealousy only led him to suspect
+it, he believed that she was touched with the sight of the Duke,
+and could not forbear telling her, that Monsieur de Nemours was
+very happy to commence an acquaintance with her by an incident
+which had something very gallant and extraordinary in it.
+
+Madam de Cleves returned home with her thoughts full of what had
+passed at the ball; and though it was very late, she went into
+her mother's room to give her a relation of it; in doing which
+she praised the Duke of Nemours with a certain air, that gave
+Madam de Chartres the same suspicion the Chevalier de Guise had
+entertained before.
+
+The day following the ceremony of the Duke of Loraine's marriage
+was performed; and there the Princess of Cleves observed so
+inimitable a grace, and so fine a mien in the Duke of Nemours,
+that she was yet more surprised.
+
+She afterwards saw him at the Court of the Queen-Dauphin; she saw
+him play at tennis with the King; she saw him run the ring; she
+heard him discourse; still she found he far excelled everybody
+else, and drew the attention of the company to him wherever he
+was; in short, the gracefulness of his person, and the
+agreeableness of his wit soon made a considerable impression on
+her heart.
+
+The Duke de Nemours had an inclination no less violent for her;
+and hence flowed all that gaiety and sweetness of behaviour,
+which the first desires of pleasing ordinarily inspire a man
+with: hence he became more amiable than ever he was before; so
+that by often seeing one another, and by seeing in each other
+whatever was most accomplished at Court, it could not be but that
+they must mutually receive the greatest pleasure from such a
+commerce.
+
+The Duchess of Valentinois made one in all parties of pleasure;
+and the King was still as passionately fond of her as in the
+beginning of his love.  The Princess of Cleves being at those
+years, wherein people think a woman is incapable of inciting love
+after the age of twenty-five, beheld with the utmost astonishment
+the King's passion for the Duchess, who was a grandmother, and
+had lately married her granddaughter: she often spoke on this
+subject to Madam de Chartres.  "Is it possible, Madam," said
+she, "that the King should still continue to love?  How could he
+take a fancy to one, who was so much older than himself, who had
+been his father's mistress, and who, as I have heard, is still
+such to many others?"  " 'Tis certain," answered Madam de
+Chartres," it was neither the merit nor the fidelity of the
+Duchess of Valentinois, which gave birth to the King's passion,
+or preserved it; and this is what he can't be justified in; for
+if this lady had had beauty and youth suitable to her birth; and
+the merit of having had no other lover; if she had been exactly
+true and faithful to the King; if she had loved him with respect
+only to his person, without the interested views of greatness and
+fortune, and without using her power but for honourable purposes
+and for his Majesty's interest; in this case it must be
+confessed, one could have hardly forbore praising his passion for
+her.  If I was not afraid," continued Madam de Chartres, "that
+you would say the same thing of me which is said of most women of
+my years, that they love to recount the history of their own
+times, I would inform you how the King's passion for this Duchess
+began, and of several particulars of the Court of the late King,
+which have a great relation to things that are acted at
+present."  "Far from blaming you," replied the Princess of
+Cleves, "for repeating the histories of past times, I lament,
+Madam, that you have not instructed me in those of the present,
+nor informed me as to the different interests and parties of the
+Court.  I am so entirely ignorant of them, that I thought a few
+days ago, the Constable was very well with the Queen."  "You
+was extremely mistaken," answered Madam de Chartres, "the Queen
+hates the Constable, and if ever she has power, he'll be but too
+sensible of it; she knows, he has often told the King, that of
+all his children none resembled him but his natural ones."  "I
+should never have suspected this hatred," said the Princess of
+Cleves, "after having seen her assiduity in writing to the
+Constable during his imprisonment, the joy she expressed at his
+return, and how she always calls him Compere, as well as the
+King."  "If you judge from appearances in a Court," replied
+Madam de Chartres, "you will often be deceived; truth and
+appearances seldom go together.
+
+"But to return to the Duchess of Valentinois, you know her name
+is Diana de Poitiers; her family is very illustrious, she is
+descended from the ancient Dukes of Aquitaine, her grandmother
+was a natural daughter of Lewis the XI, and in short she
+possesses everything that is great in respect of birth.  St.
+Valier, her father, had the unhappiness to be involved in the
+affair of the Constable of Bourbon, which you have heard of; he
+was condemned to lose his head, and accordingly was conducted to
+the scaffold: his daughter, viz., the Duchess, who was extremely
+beautiful, and who had already charmed the late King, managed so
+well, I don't know by what means, that she obtained her father's
+life; the pardon was brought him at the moment he was expecting
+the fatal blow; but the pardon availed little, for fear had
+seized him so deeply, that it bereft him of his senses, and he
+died a few days after.  His daughter appeared at Court as the
+King's mistress; but the Italian expedition, and the imprisonment
+of the present Prince, were interruptions to his love affair. 
+When the late King returned from Spain, and Madam the Regent went
+to meet him at Bayonne, she brought all her maids of honour with
+her, among whom was Mademoiselle de Pisselen, who was since
+Duchess d'Etampes; the King fell in love with her, though she was
+inferior in birth, wit and beauty to the Duchess of Valentinois,
+and had no advantage above her but that of being very young.  I
+have heard her say several times, that she was born the same day
+Diana de Poitiers was married, but she spoke this in the malice
+of her heart, and not as what she knew to be true; for I am much
+mistaken, if the Duchess of Valentinois did not marry Monsieur de
+Breze, at the same time that the King fell in love with Madam
+d'Etampes.  Never was a greater hatred than that between these
+two ladies; the Duchess could not pardon Madam d'Etampes for
+having taken from her the title of the King's mistress; and Madam
+d'Etampes was violently jealous of the Duchess, because the King
+still kept correspondence with her.  That Prince was by no means
+constant to his mistresses; there was always one among them that
+had the title and honours of mistress, but the ladies of the
+small band, as they were styled, shared his favour by turns.  The
+loss of the Dauphin, his son, who died at Tournon, and was
+thought to be poisoned, extremely afflicted him; he had not the
+same affection and tenderness for his second son, the present
+King; he imagined he did not see in him spirit and vivacity
+enough, and complained of it one day to the Duchess of
+Valentinois, who told him she would endeavour to raise a passion
+in him for her, in order to make him more sprightly and
+agreeable.  She succeeded in it, as you see, and this passion is
+now of above twenty years' duration, without being changed either
+by time or incidents.
+
+"The late King at first opposed it; and whether he had still
+love enough left for the Duchess of Valentinois to be jealous, or
+whether he was urged on by the Duchess d'Etampes, who was in
+despair upon seeing the Dauphin so much attached to her enemy, it
+is certain he beheld this passion with an indignation and
+resentment, that showed itself every day by something or other. 
+The Dauphin neither valued his anger or his hatred, nor could
+anything oblige him either to abate or conceal his flame, so that
+the King was forced to accustom himself to bear it with patience.
+
+This opposition of his to his father's will, withdrew his
+affections from him more and more, and transferred them to his
+third son, the Duke of Orleans, who was a Prince of a fine person
+full of fire and ambition, and of a youthful heat which wanted to
+be moderated; however, he would have made a very great Prince,
+had he arrived to a more ripened age.
+
+"The rank of eldest, which the Dauphin held, and the King's
+favour which the Duke of Orleans was possessed of, created
+between them a sort of emulation, that grew by degrees to hatred. 
+This emulation began from their infancy, and was still kept up in
+its height.  When the Emperor passed through France, he gave the
+preference entirely to the Duke of Orleans, which the Dauphin
+resented so bitterly, that while the Emperor was at Chantilli, he
+endeavoured to prevail with the Constable to arrest him without
+waiting for the King's orders, but the Constable refused to do
+it: however, the King afterwards blamed him for not following his
+son's advice, and when he banished him the Court, that was one of
+the principal reasons for it.
+
+"The discord between the two brothers put Madam d'Etampes upon
+the thought of strengthening herself with the Duke of Orleans, in
+order to support her power with the King against the Duchess of
+Valentinois; accordingly she succeeded in it, and that young
+Prince, though he felt no emotions of love for her, entered no
+less into her interest, than the Dauphin was in that of Madam de
+Valentinois.  Hence rose two factions at Court, of such a nature
+as you may imagine, but the intrigues of them were not confined
+to the quarrels of women.
+
+The Emperor, who continued to have a great friendship for the
+Duke of Orleans, had offered several times to make over to him
+the Duchy of Milan.  In the propositions which were since made
+for the peace, he gave hopes of assigning him the seventeen
+provinces, with his daughter in marriage.  The Dauphin neither
+approved of the peace or the marriage, and in order to defeat
+both he made use of the Constable, for whom he always had an
+affection, to remonstrate to the King of what importance it was
+not to give his successor a brother so powerful as the Duke of
+Orleans would be with the alliance of the Emperor and those
+countries; the Constable came the more easily into the Dauphin's
+sentiments, as they were opposite to those of Madam d'Etampes,
+who was his declared enemy, and who vehemently wished for the
+promotion of the Duke of Orleans.
+
+"The Dauphin commanded at that time the King's Army in
+Champaign, and had reduced that of the Emperor to such
+extremities, that it must have entirely perished, had not the
+Duchess d'Etampes, for fear too great successes should make us
+refuse peace, and the Emperor's alliance in favour of the Duke of
+Orleans, secretly advised the enemy to surprise Espemai and
+Cheteau-Thieni, in which places were great magazines of
+provisions; they succeeded in the attempt, and by that means
+saved their whole army.
+
+"This Duchess did not long enjoy the success of her treason.  A
+little after the Duke of Orleans died at Farmontiers of a kind of
+contagious distemper: he was in love with one of the finest women
+of the Court, and was beloved by her.  I will not mention her
+name, because she has since lived with so much discretion, and
+has so carefully concealed the passion she had for that Prince,
+that one ought to be tender of her reputation.  It happened she
+received the news of her husband's death at the same time as she
+heard of the Duke's, so that she had that pretext to enable her
+to conceal her real sorrow, without being at the trouble of
+putting any constraint upon herself.
+
+"The King did not long survive the Prince his son; he died two
+years after; he recommended to the Dauphin to make use of the
+Cardinal de Tournon and the Admiral d'Annebault, but said nothing
+at all of the Constable, who was then in banishment at Chantilli.
+
+Nevertheless the first thing the King his son did was to recall
+him, and make him his Prime Minister.
+
+"Madam d'Etampes was discarded, and received all the ill
+treatment she could possibly expect from an enemy so very
+powerful; the Duchess of Valentinois amply revenged herself both
+of that lady, and all those who had disobliged her; she seemed to
+reign more absolute in the King's heart than she did even when he
+was Dauphin.  During the twelve years' reign of this Prince she
+has been absolute in everything; she disposes of all governments
+and offices of trust and power; she has disgraced the Cardinal de
+Tournon, the Chancellor, and Villeroy; those who have endeavoured
+to open the King's mind with respect to her conduct, have been
+undone in the attempt; the Count de Taix, great Master of the
+Ordnance, who had no kindness for her, could not forbear speaking
+of her gallantries, and particularly of that with the Count de
+Brissac, of whom the King was already very jealous.  Nevertheless
+she contrived things so well, that the Count de Taix was
+disgraced, and his employment taken from him; and what is almost
+incredible, she procured it to be given to the Count de Brissac,
+and afterwards made him a Mareschal of France.  Notwithstanding,
+the King's jealousy increased to such a height, that lie could no
+longer suffer him to continue at Court: this passion of jealousy,
+which is fierce and violent in other men, is gentle and moderate
+in him through the great respect he has for his mistress, and
+therefore he did not go about to remove his rival, but under the
+pretext of giving him the Government of Piemont.  He has lived
+there several years; last winter he returned to Paris, under
+pretence of demanding troops and other necessaries for the Army
+he commands; the desire of seeing the Duchess of Valentinois
+again, and the fear of being forgotten by her, was perhaps the
+principal motive of this journey.  The King received him very
+coldly; Messieurs de Guise, who have no kindness for him, but
+dare not show it on account of the Duchess, made use of Monsieur
+the Viscount, her declared enemy, to prevent his obtaining what
+he came to demand.  It was no difficult matter to do him hurt. 
+The King hated him, and was uneasy at his presence, so that he
+was obliged to return to Piemont without any benefit from his
+journey, except perhaps that of rekindling in the heart of the
+Duchess the flame which absence began to extinguish.
+
+The King has had a great many other subjects of jealousy, but
+either he has not been informed of them, or has not dared to
+complain of them.
+
+"I don't know, daughter," added Madam de Chartres, "if I have
+not already told you more of these things, than you desired to
+know."  "I am far, Madam, from complaining of that," replied
+the Princess of Cleves, "and if it was not for fear of being
+importunate, I should yet desire to be informed of several
+circumstances I am ignorant of."
+
+The Duke de Nemours' passion for Madam de Cleves was at first so
+violent, that he had no relish left for any of the ladies he paid
+his addresses to before, and with whom he kept a correspondence
+during his absence; he even lost all remembrance of his
+engagements with them, and not only made it his business to find
+out excuses to break with them, but had not the patience to hear
+their complaints, or make any answer to the reproaches they laid
+upon him.  The Queen-Dauphin herself, for whom his regards had
+been very tender, could no longer preserve a place in that heart
+which was now devoted to the Princess of Cleves.  His impatience
+of making a tour to England began to abate, and he showed no
+earnestness in hastening his equipage.  He frequently went to the
+Queen-Dauphin's Court, because the Princess of Cleves was often
+there, and he was very easy in leaving people in the opinion they
+had of his passion for that Queen; he put so great a value on
+Madam de Cleves, that he resolved to be rather wanting in giving
+proofs of his love, than to hazard its being publicly known; he
+did not so much as speak of it to the Viscount de Chartres, who
+was his intimate friend, and from whom he concealed nothing; the
+truth is, he conducted this affair with so much discretion, that
+nobody suspected he was in love with Madam de Cleves, except the
+Chevalier de Guise; and she would scarcely have perceived it
+herself, if the inclination she had for him had not led her into
+a particular attention to all his actions, but which she was
+convinced of it.
+
+She no longer continued to have the same disposition to
+communicate to her mother what she thought concerning the Duke de
+Nemours, as she had to talk to her about her other lovers; though
+she had no settled design of concealing it from her, yet she did
+not speak of it.  Madam de Chartres, however, plainly perceived
+the Duke's attachment to her daughter, as well as her daughter's
+inclination for him; the knowledge of this could not but sensibly
+afflict her, nor could she be ignorant of the danger this young
+lady was in, in being beloved by, and loving so accomplished a
+person as the Duke de Nemours: she was entirely confirmed in the
+suspicion she had of this business, by an incident which fell out
+a few days after.
+
+The Mareschal de St. Andre, who took all opportunities to show
+his magnificence, desired the King, under pretence of showing him
+his house which was just finished, to do him the honour to sup
+there with the two Queens.  The Mareschal was also very glad to
+display, in the sight of the Princess of Cleves, that splendid
+and expensive manner of life, which he carried to so great a
+profusion.
+
+Some days before that appointed for the entertainment, the
+Dauphin, who had an ill state of health, found himself
+indisposed, and saw nobody; the Queen-Dauphin had spent all that
+day with him; and in the evening, upon his growing better, all
+the persons of quality that were in the anti-chamber were
+admitted; the Queen-Dauphin returned to her own apartment, where
+she found Madam de Cleves and some other ladies, with whom she
+lived in familiarity.
+
+It being already very late, and not being dressed, she did not
+wait upon the Queen, but gave out that she was not to be seen,
+and ordered her jewels to be brought, in order to choose out some
+for the Mareschal de St. Andre's Ball, and present the Princess
+of Cleves with some, as she had promised her.  While they were
+thus employed, the Prince of Conde entered; his great quality
+gave him free access everywhere.  "Doubtless," said the
+Queen-Dauphin, "you come from the King my husband, what are they
+doing there?"
+
+"Madam," said he, "they are maintaining a dispute against the
+Duke of Nemours, and he defends the argument he undertook with so
+much warmth, that he must needs be very much interested in it; I
+believe he has some mistress that gives him uneasiness by going
+to balls, so well satisfied he is that it is a vexatious thing to
+a lover to see the person he loves in those places."
+
+"How," replied the Queen-Dauphin, "would not the Duke de
+Nemours have his mistress go to a ball?  I thought that husbands
+might wish their wives would not go there; but as for lovers, I
+never imagined they were of that opinion."  "The Duke de
+Nemours finds," answered the Prince of Conde, "that nothing is
+so insupportable to lovers as balls, whether they are beloved
+again, or whether they are not.  He says, if they are beloved
+they have the chagrin to be loved the less on this account for
+several days; that there is no woman, whom her anxiety for dress
+does not divert from thinking on her lover; that they are
+entirely taken up with that one circumstance, that this care to
+adorn themselves is for the whole world, as well as for the man
+they favour; that when they are at a ball, they are desirous to
+please all who look at them; and that when they triumph in their
+beauty, they experience a joy to which their lovers very little
+contribute.  He argues further, that if one is not beloved, it is
+a yet greater torment to see one's mistress at an assembly; that
+the more she is admired by the public, the more unhappy one is
+not to be beloved, and that the lover is in continual fear lest
+her beauty should raise a more successful passion than his own;
+lastly he finds, there is no torment equal to that of seeing
+one's mistress at a ball, unless it be to know that she is there,
+and not to be there one's self."
+
+Madam de Cleves pretended not to hear what the Prince of Conde
+said, though she listened very attentively; she easily saw what
+part she had in the Duke of Nemours's opinion, and particularly
+as to what he said of the uneasiness of not being at a ball where
+his mistress was, because he was not to be at that of the
+Mareschal de St. Andre, the King having sent him to meet the Duke
+of Ferrara.
+
+The Queen-Dauphin, and the Prince of Conde, not going into the
+Duke's opinion, were very merry upon the subject.  "There is but
+one occasion, Madam," said the Prince to her, "in which the
+Duke will consent his mistress should go to a ball, and that is
+when he himself gives it.  He says, that when he gave your
+Majesty one last year, his mistress was so kind as to come to it,
+though seemingly only to attend you; that it is always a favour
+done to a lover, to partake of an entertainment which he gives;
+that it is an agreeable circumstance for him to have his mistress
+see him preside in a place where the whole Court is, and see him
+acquit himself well in doing the honours of it."  "The Duke de
+Nemours was in the right," said the Queen-Dauphin, smiling, "to
+approve of his mistress's being at his own ball; there was then
+so great a number of ladies, whom he honoured with the
+distinction of that name, that if they had not come, the assembly
+would have been very thin."
+
+The Prince of Conde had no sooner begun to relate the Duke de
+Nemours's sentiments concerning assemblies, but Madam de Cleves
+felt in herself a strong aversion to go to that of the Mareschal
+de St. Andre.  She easily came into the opinion, that a woman
+ought not to be at an entertainment given by one that professed
+love to her, and she was very glad to find out a reason of
+reservedness for doing a thing which would oblige the Duke of
+Nemours.  However, she carried away with her the ornaments which
+the Queen-Dauphin had given her; but when she showed them her
+mother, she told her that she did not design to make use of them;
+that the Mareschal de St. Andre took a great deal of pains to
+show his attachment to her, and she did not doubt he would be
+glad to have it believed that a compliment was designed her in
+the entertainment he gave the King, and that under the pretence
+of doing the honours of his house, he would show her civilities
+which would be uneasy to her.
+
+Madam de Chartres for some time opposed her daughter's opinion,
+as thinking it very singular; but when she saw she was obstinate
+in it, she gave way, and told her, that in that case she ought to
+pretend an indisposition as an excuse for not going to the ball,
+because the real reasons which hindered her would not be approved
+of; and care ought to be taken that they should not be suspected.
+
+Madam de Cleves voluntarily consented to pass some days at her
+mother's, in order not to go to any place where the Duke of
+Nemours was not to be.  However the Duke set out, without the
+pleasure of knowing she would not be at the ball.
+
+The day after the ball he returned, and was informed that she was
+not there; but as he did not know the conversation he had at the
+Dauphin's Court had been repeated to her, he was far from
+thinking himself happy enough to have been the reason of her not
+going.
+
+The day after, while he was at the Queen's apartments, and
+talking to the Queen-Dauphin, Madam de Chartres and Madam de
+Cleves came in.  Madam de Cleves was dressed a little
+negligently, as a person who had been indisposed, but her
+countenance did not at all correspond with her dress.  "You look
+so pretty," says the Queen-Dauphin to her, "that I can't
+believe you have been ill; I think the Prince of Conde, when he
+told us the Duke de Nemours's opinion of the ball, persuaded you,
+that to go there would be doing a favour to the Mareschal de St.
+Andre, and that that's the reason which hindered you from
+going."  Madam de Cleves blushed, both because the Queen-Dauphin
+had conjectured right, and because she spoke her conjecture in
+the presence of the Duke de Nemours.
+
+Madam de Chartres immediately perceived the true reason, why her
+daughter refused to go to the ball; and to prevent the Duke de
+Nemours discovering it, as well as herself, she took up the
+discourse after a manner that gave what she said an air of truth.
+
+"I assure you, Madam," said she to the Queen-Dauphin, "that
+your Majesty has done my daughter more honour than she deserves;
+she was really indisposed, but I believe, if I had not hindered
+her, she would not have failed to wait on you, and to show
+herself under any disadvantages, for the pleasure of seeing what
+there was extraordinary at yesterday's entertainment."  The
+Queen-Dauphin gave credit to what Madam de Chartres said but the
+Duke de Nemours was sorry to find so much probability in it
+nevertheless, the blushes of the Princess of Cleves made him
+suspect, that what the Queen-Dauphin had said was not altogether
+false.  The Princess of Cleves at first was concerned the Duke
+had any room to believe it was he who had hindered her from going
+to the Mareschal de St. Andre; but afterwards she was a little
+chagrined that her mother had entirely taken off the suspicion of
+it.
+
+Though the Congress of Cercamp had been broken off, the
+negotiations for the peace were continued, and things were so
+disposed, that towards the latter end of February the conferences
+were reassumed at Chateau-Cambresis; the same plenipotentiaries
+were sent as before, and the Mareschal de St. Andre being one,
+his absence freed the Duke de Nemours from a rival, who was
+formidable rather from his curiosity in observing those who
+addressed to Madam de Cleves, than from any advances he was
+capable of making himself in her favour.
+
+Madam de Chartres was not willing to let her daughter see that
+she knew her sentiments for the Duke, for fear of making herself
+suspected in some things which she was very desirous to tell her.
+
+One day she set herself to talk about him, and a great deal of
+good she said of him, but mixed with it abundance of sham
+praises, as the prudence he showed in never falling in love, and
+how wise he was to make the affair of women and love an amusement
+instead of a serious business:  "It is not," added she, "that
+he is not suspected to have a very uncommon passion for the
+Queen-Dauphin; I observe he visits her very often; and I advise
+you to avoid, as much as possible, speaking to him, and
+especially in private; because, since the Queen-Dauphin treats
+you as she does, it would be said, that you are their confidant;
+and you know how disagreeable that sort of reputation is: I'm of
+opinion, if this report continues, that you should not visit the
+Queen-Dauphin so often, in order to avoid involving yourself in
+adventures of gallantry."
+
+The Princess of Cleves had never heard before of the amour
+between the Duke de Nemours and the Queen-Dauphin; she was so
+much surprised at what her mother had told her, and seemed to see
+so plainly how she had been mistaken in her thoughts about the
+Duke, that she changed countenance.  Madam de Chartres perceived
+it.  Visitors came in that moment; and the Princess of Cleves
+retired to her own apartment, and shut herself up in her closet.
+
+One can't express the grief she felt to discover, by what her
+mother had been just saying, the interest her heart had in the
+Duke de Nemours; she had not dared as yet to acknowledge it to
+her secret thoughts; she then found, that the sentiments she had
+for him were such as the Prince of Cleves had required of her;
+she perceived how shameful it was to entertain them for another,
+and not for a husband that deserved them; she found herself under
+the utmost embarrassment, and was dreadfully afraid lest the Duke
+should make use of her only as a means to come at the
+Queen-Dauphin, and it was this thought determined her to impart
+to her mother something she had not yet told her.
+
+The next morning she went into her mother's chamber to put her
+resolves in execution, but she found Madam de Chartres had some
+touches of a fever, and therefore did not think proper to speak
+to her: this indisposition however appeared to insignificant,
+that Madam de Cleves made no scruple after dinner to visit the
+Queen-Dauphin; she was in her closet with two or three ladies of
+her most familiar acquaintance.  "We were speaking," said she
+to her, as soon as she saw her, "of the Duke de Nemours, and
+were admiring how much he's changed since his return from
+Brussels; before he went there, he had an infinite number of
+mistresses, and it was his own fault, for he showed an equal
+regard to those who had merit, and to those who had none; since
+his return he neither knows the one nor the other; there never
+was so great a change; I find his humour is changed too, and that
+he is less gay than he used to be."
+
+The Princess of Cleves made no answer; and it shocked her to
+think she should have taken all that they said of the change in
+the Duke for proofs of his passion for her, had she not been
+undeceived; she felt in herself some little resentment against
+the Queen-Dauphin, for endeavouring to find out reasons, and
+seeming surprised at a thing, which she probably knew more of
+than anyone else; she could not forbear showing something of it;
+and when the other ladies withdrew, she came up and told her in a
+low voice, "And is it I, Madam, you have been pointing at, and
+have you a mind to conceal, that you are she who has made such an
+alteration in the conduct of the Duke of Nemours?"  "You do me
+injustice," answered the Queen-Dauphin, "you know I conceal
+nothing from you; it is true the Duke of Nemours, before he went
+to Brussels, had, I believe, an intention to let me know he did
+not hate me; but since his return, it has not so much as appeared
+that he remembers anything of what he has done; and I acknowledge
+I have a curiosity to know what it is has changed him so: it
+would not be very difficult for me to unravel this affair,"
+added she; "the Viscount de Chartres, his intimate friend, is in
+love with a lady with whom I have some power, and I'll know by
+that means the occasion of this alteration."  The Queen-Dauphin
+spoke with an air of sincerity which convinced the Princess of
+Cleves, and in spite of herself she found her mind in a more calm
+and pleasing situation than it had been in before.
+
+When she returned to her mother, she heard she was a great deal
+worse than she had left her; her fever was redoubled, and the
+days following it increased to so great a degree, that she was
+thought to be in danger.  Madam de Cleves was in extreme grief on
+this occasion, and never stirred out of her mother's chamber. 
+The Prince of Cleves was there too almost every day and all day
+long, partly out of affection to Madam de Chartres, and partly to
+hinder his lady from abandoning herself to sorrow, but chiefly
+that he might have the pleasure of seeing her, his passion not
+being at all diminished.
+
+The Duke de Nemours, who had always had a great friendship for
+the Prince of Cleves, had not failed to show it since his return
+from Brussels; during the illness of Madam de Chartres he
+frequently found means to see the Princess of Cleves, pretending
+to want her husband, or to come to take him out to walk; he
+enquired for him at such hours as he knew very well he was not at
+home, and under pretence of waiting for him stayed in Madam de
+Cleves's anti-chamber, where there were always a great many
+people of quality; Madam de Cleves often came there, and her
+grief did not make her seem less handsome in the eyes of the Duke
+de Nemours; he made her sensible what interest he had in her
+affliction, and spoke to her with so submissive an air, that he
+easily convinced her, that the Queen-Dauphin was not the person
+he was in love with.
+
+The seeing him at once gave her grief and pleasure; but when she
+no longer saw him, and reflected that the charm he carried about
+him when present, was an introduction to love, she was very near
+imagining she hated him, out of the excessive grief which that
+thought gave her.
+
+Madam de Chartres still grew worse and worse, so that they began
+to despair of her life; she heard what the physicians told her
+concerning the danger she was in with a courage worthy her
+virtue, and her piety.  After they were gone, she caused
+everybody to retire, and sent for Madam de Cleves.
+
+"We must part, my dear daughter," said she, stretching out her
+hand to her; "the danger I leave you in, and the occasion you
+have for me, adds to the regret I have to leave you: you have a
+passion for the Duke de Nemours; I do not desire you to confess
+it; I am no longer in a condition to make use of that sincerity
+for your good; I have perceived this inclination a great while,
+but was not willing to speak to you of it at first, for fear of
+making you discover it yourself; you know it at present but too
+well; you are upon the brink of a precipice; great efforts must
+be used, and you must do great violence to your heart to save
+yourself: reflect what you owe to your husband; reflect what you
+owe to yourself, and think that you are going to lose that
+reputation which you have gained, and which I have so much at
+heart; call up, my dear daughter, all your courage and constancy;
+retire from Court; oblige your husband to carry you away; do not
+be afraid of taking such resolutions, as being too harsh and
+difficult; however frightful they may appear at first, they will
+become more pleasant in time, than the misfortunes that follow
+gallantry: if any other motives than those of duty and virtue
+could have weight with you, I should tell you that if anything
+were capable of disturbing the happiness I hope for in the next
+world, it would be to see you fall like other women; but if this
+calamity must necessarily happen, I shall meet death with joy, as
+it will hinder me from being a witness of it."
+
+Madam de Cleves bathed with tears her mother's hand, which she
+held fast locked in her own; nor was Madam de Chartres less
+moved.  "Adieu, dear daughter," said she, "let us put an end
+to a conversation which melts us both; and remember, if you are
+able, all that I have been saying to you."
+
+When she had spoke this, she turned herself on the other side,
+and ordered her daughter to call her women, being unwilling
+either to hear her reply, or to speak any more.  Madam de Cleves
+went out of her presence in a condition one need not describe;
+and Madam de Chartres thought of nothing but preparing herself
+for death: she lived two days longer, during which she would not
+see her daughter again; her daughter was the only thing she had
+reluctance to part with.
+
+Madam de Cleves was in the utmost affliction; her husband did not
+leave her, and no sooner was her mother expired, but he carried
+her into the country, that she might not have in her eye a place
+which could serve only to sharpen her sorrow, which was scarce to
+be equalled.  Though tenderness and gratitude had the greatest
+share in her griefs, yet the need which she found she had of her
+mother to guard her against the Duke of Nemours added no small
+weight to them; she found she was unhappy in being left to
+herself, at a time when she was so little mistress of her own
+affections, and when she so much wished for somebody to pity and
+encourage her.  The Prince of Cleves's behaviour to her on this
+occasion, made her wish more ardently than ever, never to fail in
+her duty to him; she also expressed more friendship and affection
+for him than she had done before; she would not suffer him to
+leave her, and she seemed to think that his being constantly with
+her could defend her against the Duke of Nemours.
+
+The Duke came to see the Prince of Cleves in the country; he did
+what he could to pay a visit also to Madam de Cleves, but she
+refused to receive him; and being persuaded she could not help
+finding something dangerously lovely in him, she made a strong
+resolution to forbear seeing him, and to avoid all occasions of
+it that were in her power.
+
+The Prince of Cleves went to Paris to make his Court, and
+promised his lady to return the next day, but however he did not
+return till the day after.  "I expected you yesterday," said
+Madam de Cleves to him on his arrival, "and I ought to chide you
+for not having come as you promised; you know, if I was capable
+of feeling a new affliction in the condition I am in, it would be
+the death of Madam de Tournon, and I have heard of it this
+morning; I should have been concerned, though I had not known
+her; it is a melting consideration to think that a lady so young
+and handsome as she, should be dead in two days; but besides, she
+was the person in the world that pleased me most, and who
+appeared to have discretion equal to her beauty."
+
+"I am sorry I could not return yesterday," replied the Prince
+of Cleves, "but my presence was so necessary to the consolation
+of an unhappy man, that it was impossible for me to leave him. 
+As for Madam de Tournon, I do not advise you not to be concerned
+for her, if you lament her as a woman full of discretion, and
+worthy of your esteem."  "You surprise me," answered Madam de
+Cleves, "I have heard you say several times, that there was not
+a lady at Court you had  a greater respect for."  "It is
+true," replied he, "but women are incomprehensible, and when I
+have seen them all, I think myself so happy in having you, that I
+cannot enough admire my good fortune."  "You esteem me more
+than I deserve," answered Madam de Cleves, "you have not had
+experience enough yet to pronounce me worthy of you; but tell me,
+I beseech you, what it is has undeceived you with respect to
+Madam de Tournon."  "I have been undeceived a great while,"
+replied he, "and I know that she was in love with the Count de
+Sancerre, and that she gave him room to hope she would marry
+him."  "I can't believe," said Madam de Cleves, "that Madam
+de Tournon, after so extraordinary an aversion as she has shown
+to marriage from the time she became a widow, and after the
+public declarations she has made that she would never marry
+again, should give hopes to Sancerre."  "If she had given hopes
+to him only," replied the Prince of Cleves, "the wonder had not
+been so great; but what is surprising is, that she gave hopes
+likewise to Etouteville at the same time:  I'll let you know the
+whole history of this matter."
+
+
+II
+
+"You know the friendship, there is betwixt Sancerre and me. 
+Nevertheless about two years ago he fell in love with Madam de
+Tournon, and concealed it from me with as much care as from the
+rest of the world; I had not the least suspicion of it.  Madam de
+Tournon as yet appeared inconsolable for the death of her
+husband, and lived in retirement with great austerity. 
+Sancerre's sister was in a manner the only person she saw, and it
+was at her lodgings he became in love with her.
+
+"One evening there was to be play at the Louvre, and the actors
+only waited for the coming of the King and Madam de Valentinois,
+when word was brought that she was indisposed, and that the King
+would not come.  It was easy to see that the Duchess's
+indisposition was nothing but some quarrel with the King;
+everyone knew the jealousy he had had of the Mareschal de Brisac
+during his continuance at Court, but he had been set out some
+days on his return to Piemont, and one could not imagine what was
+the occasion of this falling out.
+
+"While I was speaking of this to Sancerre, Monsieur d'Anville
+came into the room, and told me in a whisper, that the King was
+so exasperated and so afflicted at the same time, that one would
+pity him; that upon a late reconciliation between him and the
+Duchess, after the quarrel they had had about the Mareschal de
+Brisac, he had given her a ring, and desired her to wear it; and
+that as she was dressing herself to come to the play, he had
+missed it on her finger, and asked what was become of it; upon
+which she seemed in surprise that she had it not, and called to
+her women for it, who unfortunately, or for want of being better
+instructed, made answer they had not seen it four or five days.
+
+"It was," continued Monsieur d'Anville, "precisely so long,
+since the Mareschal de Brisac left the Court, and the King made
+no doubt but she gave him the ring when she took her leave of
+him.  The thought of this awaked in so lively a manner that
+jealousy which was not yet extinguished, that he fell into
+uncommon transports, and loaded her with a thousand reproaches;
+he is just gone into her apartment again in great concern, but
+whether the reason is a more confirmed opinion that the Duchess
+had made a sacrifice of the ring, or for fear of having
+disobliged her by his anger, I can't tell.
+
+"As soon as Monsieur d'Anville had told me this news, I
+acquainted Sancerre with it; I told it him as a secret newly
+entrusted with me, and charged him to say nothing of it.
+
+"The next day I went early in the morning to my sister-in-law's,
+and found Madam de Tournon at her bedside, who had no great
+kindness for the Duchess of Valentinois, and knew very well that
+my sister-in-law had no reason to be satisfied with her. 
+Sancerre had been with her, after he went from the play, and had
+acquainted her with the quarrel between the King and the Duchess;
+and Madam de Tournon was come to tell it to my sister-in-law,
+without knowing or suspecting that it was I from whom her lover
+had it.
+
+"As soon as I advanced toward my sister-in-law, she told Madam
+de Tournon, that they might trust me with what she had been
+telling her; and without waiting Madam de Tournon's leave she
+related to me word by word all I had told Sancerre the night
+before.  You may judge what surprise I was in; I looked hard at
+Madam de Tournon, and she seemed disordered; her disorder gave me
+a suspicion.  I had told the thing to nobody but Sancerre; he
+left me when the comedy was done, without giving any reason for
+it; I remembered to have heard him speak much in praise of Madam
+de Tournon; all these things opened my eyes, and I easily
+discerned there was an intrigue between them, and that he had
+seen her since he left me.
+
+"I was so stung to find he had concealed this adventure from me,
+that I said several things which made Madam de Tournon sensible
+of the imprudence she had been guilty of; I led her back to her
+coach, and assured her, I envied the happiness of him who
+informed her of the King's quarrel with the Duchess of
+Valentinois.
+
+"I went immediately in search of Sancerre, and severely
+reproached him; I told him I knew of his passion for Madam de
+Tournon, without saying how I came by the discovery; he was
+forced to acknowledge it; I afterwards informed him what led me
+into the knowledge of it, and he acquainted me with the detail of
+the whole affair; he told me, that though he was a younger
+brother, and far from being able to pretend to so good a match,
+nevertheless she was determined to marry him.  I can't express
+the surprise I was in; I told Sancerre he would do well to hasten
+the conclusion of the marriage, and that there was nothing he had
+not to fear from a woman who had the artifice to support, in the
+eye of the public, appearances so distant from truth; he gave me
+in answer that she was really concerned for the loss of her
+husband, but that the inclination she had for him had surmounted
+that affliction, and that she could not help discovering all on a
+sudden so great a change; he mentioned besides several other
+reasons in her excuse, which convinced me how desperately he was
+in love; he assured me he would bring her to consent that I
+should know his passion for her, especially since it was she
+herself who had made me suspect it; in a word, he did oblige her
+to it, though with a great deal of difficulty, and I grew
+afterwards very deep in their confidence.
+
+"I never knew a lady behave herself in so genteel and agreeable
+a manner to her lover, but yet I was always shocked at the
+affectation she showed in appearing so concerned for the loss of
+her husband.  Sancerre was so much in love, and so well pleased
+with the treatment he received from her, that he scarce durst
+press her to conclude the marriage, for fear she should think he
+desired it rather out of interest than love; however he spoke to
+her of it, and she seemed fully bent on marrying him; she began
+also to abandon her reserved manner of life, and to appear again
+in public; she visited my sister-in-law at hours when some of the
+Court were usually there; Sancerre came there but seldom, but
+those who came every night, and frequently saw her there, thought
+her extremely beautiful.
+
+"She had not long quitted her solitude, when Sancerre imagined
+that her passion for him was cooled; he spoke of it several times
+to me: but I laid no great stress on the matter; but at last,
+when he told me, that instead of forwarding the marriage, she
+seemed to put it off, I began to think he was not to blame for
+being uneasy: I remonstrated to him, that if Madam de Tournon's
+passion was abated after having continued two years, he ought not
+to be surprised at it, and that even supposing it was not abated,
+possibly it might not be strong enough to induce her to marry
+him; that he ought not to complain of it; that such a marriage in
+the judgment of the public would draw censures upon her, not only
+because he was not a suitable match for her, but also on account
+of the prejudice it would do her reputation; that therefore all
+he could desire was, that she might not deceive him, nor lead him
+into false expectations; I told him further, that if she had not
+resolution enough to marry him, or if she confessed she liked
+some other person better, he ought not to resent or be angry at
+it, but still continue his esteem and regard for her.
+
+"I give you," said I, "the advice which I would take myself;
+for sincerity has such charms to me, that I believe if my
+mistress, or even my wife ingenuously confessed, she had a
+greater affection for another than for me, I might be troubled,
+but not exasperated; I would lay aside the character of a lover
+or a husband, to bestow my advice and my pity."
+
+This discourse made Madam de Cleves blush, and she found in it a
+certain similitude of her own condition, which very much
+surprised her, and gave her a concern, from which she could not
+recover in a great while.
+
+"Sancerre spoke to Madam de Tournon," continued Monsieur de
+Cleves, "and told her all I had advised him; but she encouraged
+him with so many fresh assurances, and seemed so displeased at
+his suspicions, that she entirely removed them; nevertheless she
+deferred the marriage until after a pretty long journey he was to
+make; but she behaved herself so well until his departure, and
+appeared so concerned at it, that I believed as well as he, that
+she sincerely loved him.  He set out about three months ago;
+during his absence I have seldom seen Madam de Tournon; you have
+entirely taken me up, and I only knew that he was speedily
+expected.
+
+"The day before yesterday, on my arrival at Paris, I heard she
+was dead; I sent to his lodgings to enquire if they had any news
+of him, and word was brought me he came to town the night before,
+which was precisely the day that Madam de Tournon died; I
+immediately went to see him, concluding in what condition I
+should find him, but his affliction far surpassed what I had
+imagined.
+
+"Never did I see a sorrow so deep and so tender; the moment he
+saw me he embraced me with tears; `I shall never see her more,'
+said he, `I shall never see her more, she is dead, I was not
+worthy of her, but I shall soon follow her.'
+
+"After this he was silent; and then, from time to time,
+continually repeating `She is dead, I shall never see her more,'
+he returned to lamentations and tears, and continued as a man
+bereft of reason.  He told me he had not often received letters
+from her during his absence, but that he knew her too well to be
+surprised at it, and was sensible how shy and timorous she was of
+writing; he made no doubt but she would have married him upon his
+return; he considered her as the most amiable and constant of her
+sex; he thought himself tenderly beloved by her; he lost her the
+moment he expected to be united to her for ever; all these
+thoughts threw him into so violent an affliction, that I own I
+was deeply touched with it.
+
+"Nevertheless I was obliged to leave him to go to the King, but
+promised to return immediately; accordingly I did, and I was
+never so surprised as I was to find him entirely changed from
+what I had left him; he was standing in his chamber, his face
+full of fury, sometimes walking, sometimes stopping short, as if
+he had been distracted; `Come,' says he, `and see the most
+forlorn wretch in the world; I am a thousand times more unhappy
+than I was a while ago, and what I have just heard of Madam de
+Tournon is worse than her death.'
+
+"I took what he said to be wholly the effect of grief, and could
+not imagine that there could be anything worse than the death of
+a mistress one loves and is beloved by; I told him, that so far
+as he kept his grief within bounds, I approved of it, and bore a
+part in it; but that I should no longer pity him, if he abandoned
+himself to despair and flew from reason.  `I should be too happy
+if I had lost both my reason and my life,' cried he; `Madam de
+Tournon was false to me, and I am informed of her unfaithfulness
+and treachery the very day after I was informed of her death; I
+am informed of it at a time when my soul is filled with the most
+tender love, and pierced with the sharpest grief that ever was;
+at a time when the idea of her in my heart, is that of the most
+perfect woman who ever lived, and the most perfect with respect
+to me; I find I am mistaken, and that she does not deserve to be
+lamented by me; nevertheless I have the same concern for her
+death, as if she had been true to me, and I have the same
+sensibility of her falsehood, as if she were yet living; had I
+heard of her falsehood before her death, jealousy, anger, and
+rage would have possessed me, and in some measure hardened me
+against the grief for her loss; but now my condition is such,
+that I am incapable of receiving comfort, and yet know not how to
+hate her.'
+
+"You may judge of the surprise I was in at what Sancerre told
+me; I asked him how he came by the knowledge of it, and he told
+me that the minute I went away from him, Etouteville, who is his
+intimate friend, but who nevertheless knew nothing of his love
+for Madam de Tournon, came to see him; that as soon as he was sat
+down, he fell a-weeping, and asked his pardon for having
+concealed from him what he was going to tell him, that he begged
+him to have compassion of him, that he was come to open his heart
+to him, and that he was the person in the world the most
+afflicted for the death of Madam de Tournon.
+
+"`That name,' said Sancerre, `so astonished me, that though my
+first intention was to tell him I was more afflicted than he, I
+had not the power to speak: he continued to inform me, that he
+had been in love with her six months, that he was always desirous
+to let me know it, but she had expressly forbid him; and in so
+authoritative a manner, that he durst not disobey her; that he
+gained her in a manner as soon as he courted her, that they
+concealed their mutual passion for each other from the whole
+world, that he never visited her publicly, that he had the
+pleasure to remove her sorrow for her husband's death, and that
+lastly he was to have married her at the very juncture in which
+she died; but that this marriage, which was an effect of love,
+would have appeared in her an effect of duty and obedience, she
+having prevailed upon her father to lay his commands on her to
+marry him, in order to avoid the appearance of too great an
+alteration in her conduct, which had seemed so averse to a second
+marriage.'
+
+"`While Etouteville was speaking to me,' said Sancerre, `I
+believed all he said, because I found so much probability in it,
+and because the time when he told me his passion for Madam de
+Tournon commenced, is precisely the same with that when she
+appeared changed towards me; but the next morning I thought him a
+liar, or at least an enthusiast, and was upon the point of
+telling him so.  Afterwards I came into an inclination of
+clearing up the matter, and proposed several questions, and laid
+my doubts before him, in a word, I proceeded so far to convince
+myself of my misfortune, that he asked me if I knew Madam de
+Tournon's handwriting, and with that threw upon my bed four
+letters of hers and her picture; my brother came in that minute;
+Etouteville's face was so full of tears, that he was forced to
+withdraw to avoid being observed, and said he would come again in
+the evening to fetch what he left with me; and as for me, I sent
+my brother away under pretence of being indisposed, so impatient
+was I to see the letters he had left, and so full of hopes to
+find something there that might make me disbelieve what
+Etouteville had been telling me; but alas!  What did I not find
+there?  What tenderness! what assurances of marriage! what
+letters!  She never wrote the like to me.  Thus,' continued he,
+`am I at once pierced with anguish for her death and for her
+falsehood, two evils which have been often compared, but never
+felt before by the same person at the same time; I confess, to my
+shame, that still I am more grieved for her loss than for her
+change; I cannot think her guilty enough, to consent to her
+death: were she living, I should have the satisfaction to
+reproach her, and to revenge myself on her by making her sensible
+of her injustice; but I shall see her no more, I shall see her no
+more; this is the greatest misfortune of all others; would I
+could restore her to life, though with the loss of my own!  Yet
+what do I wish!  If she were restored to life, she would live for
+Etouteville: how happy was I yesterday,' cried he, `how happy!  I
+was the most afflicted man in the world; but my affliction was
+reasonable, and there was something pleasing in the very thought
+that I was inconsolable; today all my sentiments are unjust; I
+pay to a feigned passion the tribute of my grief, which I thought
+I owed to a real one; I can neither hate nor love her memory; I
+am incapable of consolation, and yet don't know how to grieve for
+her; take care, I conjure you, that I never see Etouteville; his
+very name raises horror in me; I know very well I have no reason
+of complaint against him; I was to blame in concealing from him
+my love for Madam de Tournon; if he had known it, perhaps he
+would not have pursued her, perhaps she would not have been false
+to me; he came to me to impart his sorrows, and I cannot but pity
+him; alas! he had reason to love Madam de Tournon, he was beloved
+by her, and will never see her more: notwithstanding I perceive I
+can't help hating him; once more I conjure you take care I may
+not see him.'
+
+"Sancerre burst afterwards into tears, began again to regret
+Madam de Tournon, and to speak to her, as if she were present,
+and say the softest things in the world; from these transports he
+passed to hatred, to complaints, to reproaches and imprecations
+against her.  When I saw him in so desperate a condition, I found
+I should want somebody to assist me in appeasing his mind;
+accordingly I sent for his brother, whom I had left with the
+King; I met him in the anti-chamber, and acquainted him with
+Sancerre's condition: we gave the necessary orders to prevent his
+seeing Etouteville, and employed part of the night in
+endeavouring to make him capable of reason; this morning I found
+him yet more afflicted; his brother continued with him, and I
+returned to you."
+
+"'Tis impossible to be more surprised than I am," said Madam de
+Cleves; "I thought Madam de Tournon equally incapable of love
+and falsehood."  "Address and dissimulation," replied Monsieur
+de Cleves, "cannot go further than she carried them; observe,
+that when Sancerre thought her love to him was abated, it really
+was, and she began to love Etouteville; she told the last that he
+removed her sorrow for her husband's death, and that he was the
+cause of her quitting her retirement; Sancerre believed the cause
+was nothing but a resolution she had taken not to seem any longer
+to be in such deep affliction; she made a merit to Etouteville of
+concealing her correspondence with him, and of seeming forced to
+marry him by her father's command, as if it was an effect of the
+care she had of her reputation; whereas it was only an artifice
+to forsake Sancerre, without his having reason to resent it: I
+must return," continued Monsieur de Cleves, "to see this
+unhappy man, and I believe you would do well to go to Paris too;
+it is time for you to appear in the world again, and receive the
+numerous visits which you can't well dispense with."
+
+Madam de Cleves agreed to the proposal, and returned to Paris the
+next day; she found herself much more easy with respect to the
+Duke de Nemours than she had been; what her mother had told her
+on her death-bed, and her grief for her death, created a sort of
+suspension in her mind as to her passion for the Duke, which made
+her believe it was quite effaced.
+
+The evening of her arrival the Queen-Dauphin made her a visit,
+and after having condoled with her, told her that in order to
+divert her from melancholy thoughts, she would let her know all
+that had passed at Court in her absence; upon which she related
+to her a great many extraordinary things; "but what I have the
+greatest desire to inform you of," added she, "is that it is
+certain the Duke de Nemours is passionately in love; and that his
+most intimate friends are not only not entrusted in it, but can't
+so much as guess who the person is he is in love with;
+nevertheless this passion of his is so strong as to make him
+neglect, or to speak more properly, abandon the hopes of a
+Crown."
+
+The Queen-Dauphin afterwards related whatever had passed in
+England; "What I have just told you," continued she, "I had
+from Monsieur d'Anville; and this morning he informed me, that
+last night the King sent for the Duke de Nemours upon the subject
+of Lignerol's letters, who desires to return, and wrote to his
+Majesty that he could no longer excuse to the Queen of England
+the Duke of Nemours's delay; that she begins to be displeased at
+it; and though she has not positively given her promise, she has
+said enough to encourage him to come over; the King showed this
+letter to the Duke of Nemours, who instead of speaking seriously
+as he had done at the beginning of this affair, only laughed and
+trifled, and made a jest of Lignerol's expectations:  He said,
+`The whole world would censure his imprudence, if he ventured to
+go to England, with the pretensions of marrying the Queen,
+without being secure of success; I think,' added he, `I should
+time my business very ill to go to England now, when the King of
+Spain uses such pressing instances to obtain the Queen in
+marriage; the Spanish King perhaps would not be a very formidable
+rival in matters of gallantry, but in a treaty of marriage I
+believe your Majesty would not advise me to be his competitor.' 
+`I would advise you to it upon this occasion,' replied the King;
+`but however you will have no competitor in him; I know he has
+quite other thoughts; and though he had not, Queen Mary found
+herself so uneasy under the weight of the Spanish Crown, that I
+can't believe her sister will be very desirous of it.'  `If she
+should not,' replied the Duke of Nemours, `it is probable she
+will seek her happiness in love; she has been in love with my
+Lord Courtenay for several years; Queen Mary too was in love with
+him, and would have married him with consent of the states of her
+kingdom, had not she known that the youth and beauty of her
+sister Elizabeth had more charms for him than her crown; your
+Majesty knows, that the violence of her jealousy carried her so
+far, as to imprison them both, and afterwards to banish my Lord
+Courtenay, and at last determined her to marry the King of Spain;
+I believe Queen Elizabeth will soon recall that Lord, and make
+choice of a man whom she loves, who deserves her love, and who
+has suffered so much for her, in preference to another whom she
+never saw.'  `I should be of that opinion,' replied the King, `if
+my Lord Courtenay were living, but I received advice some days
+ago, that he died at Padua, whither he was banished: I plainly
+see,' added the King, as he left the Duke, `that your marriage
+must be concluded the same way the Dauphin's was, and that
+ambassadors must be sent to marry the Queen of England for you.'
+
+"Monsieur d'Anville and the Viscount, who were with the King
+when he spoke to the Duke of Nemours, are persuaded that it is
+the passion he is so deeply engaged in, which diverts him from so
+great a design; the Viscount, who sees deeper into him than
+anybody, told Madam de Martigny that he was so changed he did not
+know him again; and what astonishes him more is, that he does not
+find he has any private interviews, or that he is ever missing at
+particular times, so that he believes he has no correspondence
+with the person he is in love with; and that which surprises him
+in the Duke is to see him in love with a woman who does not
+return his love."
+
+What poison did this discourse of the Queen-Dauphin carry in it
+for Madam de Cleves?  How could she but know herself to be the
+person whose name was not known, and how could she help being
+filled with tenderness and gratitude, when she learned, by a way
+not in the least liable to suspicion, that the Duke, who had
+already touched her heart, concealed his passion from the whole
+world, and neglected for her sake the hopes of a Crown?  It is
+impossible to express what she felt, or to describe the tumult
+that was raised in her soul.  Had the Queen-Dauphin observed her
+closely, she might easily have discerned, that what she had been
+saying was not indifferent to her; but as she had not the least
+suspicion of the truth, she continued her discourse without
+minding her:  "Monsieur d'Anville," added she, "from whom, as
+I just told you, I had all this, believes I know more of it than
+himself, and he has so great an opinion of my beauty, that he is
+satisfied I am the only person capable of creating so great a
+change in the Duke of Nemours."
+
+These last words of the Queen-Dauphin gave Madam de Cleves a sort
+of uneasiness very different from that which she had a few
+minutes before.  "I can easily come into Monsieur d'Anville's
+opinion," answered she; "and 'tis very probable, Madam, that
+nothing less than a Princess of your merit could make him despise
+the Queen of England."  "I would own it to you, if I knew it,"
+replied the Queen-Dauphin, "and I should know it, if it were
+true; such passions as these never escape the sight of those who
+occasion them; they are the first to discern them; the Duke of
+Nemours has never showed me anything but slight complaisances;
+and yet I find so great a difference betwixt his present and
+former behaviour to me, that I can assure you, I am not the cause
+of the indifference he expresses for the Crown of England.
+
+"But I forget myself in your company," added the Queen-Dauphin,
+"and don't remember that I am to wait upon Madame: you know the
+peace is as good as concluded, but perhaps you don't know that
+the King of Spain has refused to sign it, but on condition of
+marrying this Princess, instead of the Prince Don Carlos, his
+son: the King was with great difficulty brought to allow it, but
+at last he has consented, and is gone to carry the news to
+Madame; I believe she will be inconsolable.  To marry a man of
+the King of Spain's age and temper can never be pleasing,
+especially to her who has all the gaiety which the bloom of youth
+joined with beauty inspires, and was in expectation of marrying a
+young Prince for whom she has an inclination without having seen
+him.  I do not know whether the King will find in her all the
+obedience he desires; he has charged me to see her, because he
+knows she loves me, and believes I shall be able to influence
+her.  From thence I shall make a visit of a very different
+nature, to congratulate the King's sister.  All things are ready
+for her marriage with the Prince of Savoy, who is expected in a
+few days.  Never was a woman of her age so entirely pleased to be
+married; the Court will be more numerous and splendid than ever,
+and notwithstanding your grief, you must come among us, in order
+to make strangers see that we are furnished with no mean
+beauties."
+
+Having said this, the Queen-Dauphin took her leave of Madam de
+Cleves, and the next day Madame's marriage was publicly known;
+some days after the King and the Queens went to visit the
+Princess of Cleves; the Duke de Nemours, who had expected her
+return with the utmost impatience, and languished for an
+opportunity of speaking to her in private, contrived to wait upon
+her at an hour, when the company would probably be withdrawing,
+and nobody else come in; he succeeded in his design, and came in
+when the last visitors were going away.
+
+The Princess was sitting on her bed, and the hot weather,
+together with the sight of the Duke de Nemours, gave her a blush
+that added to her beauty; he sat over against her with a certain
+timorous respect, that flows from a real love; he continued some
+minutes without speaking; nor was she the less at a loss, so that
+they were both silent a good while: at last the Duke condoled
+with her for her mother's death; Madam de Cleves was glad to give
+the conversation that turn, spoke a considerable time of the
+great loss she had had, and at last said, that though time had
+taken off from the violence of her grief, yet the impression
+would always remain so strong, that it would entirely change her
+humour.  "Great troubles and excessive passions," replied the
+Duke, "make great alterations in the mind; as for me, I am quite
+another man since my return from Flanders; abundance of people
+have taken notice of this change, and the Queen-Dauphin herself
+spoke to me of it yesterday."  "It is true," replied the
+Princess, "she has observed it, and I think I remember to have
+heard her say something about it."  "I'm not sorry, Madam,"
+replied the Duke, "that she has discerned it, but I could wish
+some others in particular had discerned it too; there are persons
+to whom we dare give no other evidences of the passion we have
+for them, but by things which do not concern them; and when we
+dare not let them know we love them, we should be glad at least
+to have them see we are not desirous of being loved by any other;
+we should be glad to convince them, that no other beauty, though
+of the highest rank, has any charms for us, and that a Crown
+would be too dear, if purchased with no less a price than absence
+from her we adore: women ordinarily," continued he, "judge of
+the passion one has for them, by the care one takes to oblige,
+and to be assiduous about them; but it's no hard matter to do
+this, though they be ever so little amiable; not to give oneself
+up to the pleasure of pursuing them, to shun them through fear of
+discovering to the public, and in a manner to themselves, the
+sentiments one has for them, here lies the difficulty; and what
+still more demonstrates the truth of one's passion is, the
+becoming entirely changed from what one was, and the having no
+longer a gust either for ambition or pleasure, after one has
+employed one's whole life in pursuit of both."
+
+The Princess of Cleves readily apprehended how far she was
+concerned in this discourse; one while she seemed of opinion that
+she ought not to suffer such an address; another, she thought she
+ought not to seem to understand it, or show she supposed herself
+meant by it; she thought she ought to speak, and she thought she
+ought to be silent; the Duke of Nemours's discourse equally
+pleased and offended her; she was convinced by it of the truth of
+all the Queen-Dauphin had led her to think; she found in it
+somewhat gallant and respectful, but also somewhat bold and too
+intelligible; the inclination she had for the Duke gave her an
+anxiety which it was not in her power to control; the most
+obscure expressions of a man that pleases, move more than the
+most open declaration of one we have no liking for; she made no
+answer; the Duke de Nemours took notice of her silence, which
+perhaps would have proved no ill-presage, if the coming in of the
+Prince of Cleves had not ended at once the conversation and the
+visit.
+
+The Prince was coming to give his wife a further account of
+Sancerre, but she was not over curious to learn the sequel of
+that adventure; she was so much taken up with what had just
+passed, that she could hardly conceal the embarrassment she was
+in.  When she was at liberty to muse upon it, she plainly saw she
+was mistaken, when she thought she was indifferent as to the Duke
+de Nemours; what he had said to her had made all the impression
+he could desire, and had entirely convinced her of his passion;
+besides the Duke's actions agreed too well with his words to
+leave her the least doubt about it; she no longer flattered
+herself that she did not love him; all her care was not to let
+him discover it, a task of which she had already experienced the
+difficulty; she knew the only way to succeed in it was to avoid
+seeing him; and as her mourning gave her an excuse for being more
+retired than usual, she made use of that pretence not to go to
+places where he might see her; she was full of melancholy; her
+mother's death was the seeming cause of it, and no suspicion was
+had of any other.
+
+The Duke de Nemours, not seeing her any more, fell into
+desperation and knowing he should not meet with her in any public
+assembly, or at any diversions the Court joined in, he could not
+prevail upon himself to appear there, and therefore he pretended
+a great love for hunting, and made matches for that sport on the
+days when the Queens kept their assemblies; a slight
+indisposition had served him a good while as an excuse for
+staying at home, and declining to go to places where he knew very
+well that Madam de Cleves would not be.
+
+The Prince of Cleves was ill almost at the same time, and the
+Princess never stirred out of his room during his illness; but
+when he grew better, and received company, and among others the
+Duke de Nemours, who under pretence of being yet weak, stayed
+with him the greatest part of the day, she found she could not
+continue any longer there; and yet in the first visits he made
+she had not the resolution to go out; she had been too long
+without seeing him, to be able to resolve to see him no more; the
+Duke had the address, by discourses that appeared altogether
+general, but which she understood very well by the relation they
+had to what he had said privately to her, to let her know that he
+went a-hunting only to be more at liberty to think of her, and
+that the reason of his not going to the assemblies was her not
+being there.
+
+At last she executed the resolution she had taken to go out of
+her husband's room, whenever he was there, though this was doing
+the utmost violence to herself: the Duke perceived she avoided
+him, and the thought of it touched him to the heart.
+
+The Prince of Cleves did not immediately take notice of his
+wife's conduct in this particular, but at last he perceived she
+went out of the room when there was company there; he spoke to
+her of it, and she told him that she did not think it consistent
+with decency to be every evening among the gay young courtiers;
+that she hoped he would allow her to live in a more reserved
+manner than she had done hitherto, that the virtue and presence
+of her mother authorised her in many liberties which could not
+otherwise be justified in a woman of her age.
+
+Monsieur de Cleves, who had a great deal of facility and
+complaisance for his wife, did not show it on this occasion, but
+told her he would by no means consent to her altering her
+conduct; she was upon the point of telling him, it was reported
+that the Duke de Nemours was in love with her, but she had not
+the power to name him; besides she thought it disingenuous to
+disguise the truth, and make use of pretences to a man who had so
+good an opinion of her.
+
+Some days after the King was with the Queen at the assembly hour,
+and the discourse turned upon nativities and predictions; the
+company were divided in their opinion as to what credit ought to
+be given to them; the Queen professed to have great faith in
+them, and maintained that after so many things had come to pass
+as they had been foretold, one could not doubt but there was
+something of certainty in that science; others affirmed, that of
+an infinite number of predictions so very few proved true, that
+the truth of those few ought to be looked upon as an effect of
+chance.
+
+"I have formerly been very curious and inquisitive as to
+futurity," said the King, "but I have seen so many false and
+improbable things, that I am satisfied there is no truth in that
+pretended art.  Not many years since there came hither a man of
+great reputation in astrology; everybody went to see him; I went
+among others, but without saying who I was, and I carried with me
+the Duke of Guise and Descars, and made them go in first;
+nevertheless the astrologer addressed himself first to me, as if
+he had concluded me to be their master; perhaps he knew me, and
+yet he told me one thing that was very unsuitable to my
+character, if he had known me; his prediction was that I should
+be killed in a duel; he told the Duke of Guise, that he should
+die of a wound received behind; and he told Descars he should be
+knocked of the head by the kick of a horse; the Duke of Guise was
+a little angry at the prediction, as if it imported he should run
+away; nor was Descars better pleased to find he was to make his
+exit by so unfortunate an accident; in a word, we went away all
+three of us very much out of humour with the astrologer; I don't
+know what will happen to the Duke of Guise and Descars, but there
+is not much probability of my being killed in a duel; the King of
+Spain and I have just made peace, and if we had not, I question
+whether we should have fought, or if I should have challenged
+him, as the King my father did Charles the Fifth."
+
+After the King had related the misfortune that was foretold him,
+those who had defended astrology abandoned the argument, and
+agreed there was no credit to be given to it:  "For my part,"
+said the Duke de Nemours aloud, "I have the least reason of any
+man in the world to credit it"; and then turning himself to
+Madam de Cleves, near whom he stood, "it has been foretold me,"
+says he very softly, "that I should be happy in a person for
+whom I should have the most violent and respectful passion; you
+may judge, Madam, if I ought to believe in predictions."
+
+The Queen-Dauphin, who believed, from what the Duke had spoke
+aloud, that what he whispered was some false prediction that had
+been told him, asked him what it was he said to Madam de Cleves;
+had he had a less ready wit, he would have been surprised at this
+question; but without any hesitation, "What I said to her,
+Madam," answered he, "was, that it had been predicted to me,
+that I should be raised to a higher fortune than my most sanguine
+hopes could lead me to expect."  "If nothing have been foretold
+you but this," replied the Queen-Dauphin, smiling, and thinking
+of the affair of England, "I would not advise you to decry
+astrology; you may have reasons hereafter to offer in defence of
+it."  Madam de Cleves apprehended the Queen-Dauphin's meaning,
+but knew withal, that the fortune the Duke of Nemours spoke of
+was not that of being King of England.
+
+The time of her mourning being expired, the Princess of Cleves
+was obliged to make her appearance again, and go to Court as
+usual; she saw the Duke de Nemours at the Queen-Dauphin's
+apartment; she saw him at the Prince of Cleves's, where he often
+came in company of other young noblemen, to avoid being remarked;
+yet she never once saw him, but it gave her a pain that could not
+escape his observation.
+
+However industrious she was to avoid being looked at by him, and
+to speak less to him than to any other, some things escaped her
+in an unguarded moment, which convinced him he was not
+indifferent to her; a man of less discernment than he would not
+have perceived it, but he had already so often been the object of
+love, that it was easy for him to know when he was loved; he
+found the Chevalier de Guise was his rival, and the Chevalier
+knew that the Duke de Nemours was his; Monsieur de Guise was the
+only man in the Court that had unravelled this affair, his
+interest having made him more clear-sighted than others; the
+knowledge they had of each other's sentiments created an
+opposition between them in everything, which, however, did not
+break out into an open quarrel; they were always of different
+parties at the running, at the ring, at tournaments, and all
+diversions the King delighted in, and their emulation was so
+great it could not be concealed.
+
+Madam de Cleves frequently revolved in her mind the affair of
+England; she believed the Duke de Nemours could not resist the
+advice of the King, and the instances of Lignerolles; she was
+very much concerned to find that Lignerolles was not yet
+returned, and she impatiently expected him; her inclinations
+strongly swayed her to inform herself exactly of the state of
+this affair; but the same reasons, which raised in her that
+curiosity, obliged her to conceal it, and she only enquired of
+the beauty, the wit, and the temper of Queen Elizabeth.  A
+picture of that Princess had been brought the King, which Madam
+de Cleves found much handsomer than she could have wished for,
+and she could not forbear saying, the picture flattered.  "I
+don't think so," replied the Queen-Dauphin; "that Princess has
+the reputation of being very handsome, and of having a very
+exalted genius, and I know she has always been proposed to me as
+a model worthy my imitation; she can't but be very handsome, if
+she resembles her mother, Anne Boleyn; never had woman so many
+charms and allurements both in her person and her humour; I have
+heard say she had something remarkably lively in her countenance,
+very different from what is usually found in other English
+beauties."  "I think," replied Madam de Cleves, "'tis said
+she was born in France."  "Those who imagine so are mistaken,"
+replied the Queen-Dauphin; "I'll give you her history in a few
+words.
+
+"She was of a good family in England; Henry the Eighth was in
+love with her sister and her mother, and it has been even
+suspected by some, that she was his daughter; she came to France
+with Henry the Seventh's sister, who married Louis XII that
+Princess, who was full of youth and gallantry, left the Court of
+France with great reluctance after her husband's death; but Anne
+Boleyn, who had the same inclinations as her mistress, could not
+prevail with herself to go away; the late King was in love with
+her, and she continued maid of honour to Queen Claude; that Queen
+died, and Margaretta, the King's sister, Duchess of Alenson, and
+since Queen of Navarre, whose story you know, took her into her
+service, where she imbibed the principles of the new religion;
+she returned afterwards to England, and there charmed all the
+world; she had the manners of France, which please in all
+countries; she sung well, she danced finely; she was a maid of
+honour to Queen Catherine, and Henry the Eighth fell desperately
+in love with her.
+
+"Cardinal Wolsey, his favourite and first minister, being
+dissatisfied with the Emperor for not having favoured his
+pretensions to the Papacy, in order to revenge himself of him,
+contrived an alliance between France and the King his master; he
+put it into the head of Henry the Eighth, that his marriage with
+the Emperor's aunt was null, and advised him to marry the Duchess
+of Alenson, whose husband was just dead; Anne Boleyn, who was not
+without ambition, considered Queen Catherine's divorce as a means
+that would bring her to the Crown; she began to give the King of
+England impressions of the Lutheran religion, and engaged the
+late King to favour at Rome Henry the Eighth's divorce, in hopes
+of his marrying the Duchess of Alenson; Cardinal Wolsey, that he
+might have an opportunity of treating this affair, procured
+himself to be sent to France upon other pretences; but his master
+was so far from permitting him to propose this marriage, that he
+sent him express orders to Calais not to speak of it.
+
+"Cardinal Wolsey, at his return from France, was received with
+as great honours as could have been paid to the King himself;
+never did any favourite carry his pride and vanity to so great a
+height; he managed an interview between the two Kings at
+Boulogne, when Francis the First would have given the upperhand
+to Henry the Eighth, but he refused to accept it; they treated
+one another by turns with the utmost magnificence, and presented
+to each habits of the same sort with those they wore themselves. 
+I remember to have heard say, that those the late King sent to
+the King of England were of crimson satin beset all over with
+pearls and diamonds, and a robe of white velvet embroidered with
+gold; after having stayed some time at Boulogne, they went to
+Calais.  Anne Boleyn was lodged in Henry the Eighth's Court with
+the train of a Queen; and Francis the First made her the same
+presents, and paid her the same honours as if she had been really
+so: in a word, after a passion of nine year's continuance King
+Henry married her, without waiting for the dissolving of his
+first marriage.  The Pope precipitately thundered out
+excommunications against him, which so provoked King Henry, that
+he declared himself head of the Church, and drew after him all
+England into the unhappy change in which you see it.
+
+"Anne Boleyn did not long enjoy her greatness; for when she
+thought herself most secure of it by the death of Queen
+Catherine, one day as she was seeing a match of running at the
+ring made by the Viscount Rochefort her brother, the King was
+struck with such a jealousy, that he abruptly left the show, went
+away to London, and gave orders for arresting the Queen, the
+Viscount Rochefort, and several others whom he believed to be the
+lovers or confidants of that Princess.  Though this jealousy in
+appearance had its birth that moment, the King had been long
+possessed with it by the Viscountess Rochefort, who not being
+able to bear the strict intimacy between her husband and the
+Queen, represented it to the King as a criminal commerce; so that
+that Prince, who was besides in love with Jane Seymour, thought
+of nothing but ridding himself of Anne Boleyn; and in less than
+three weeks he caused the Queen and her brother to be tried, had
+them both beheaded, and, married Jane Seymour.  He had afterwards
+several wives, whom he divorced or put to death; and among others
+Catherine Howard, whose confidant the Viscountess Rochefort was,
+and who was beheaded with her: thus was she punished for having
+falsely accused Anne Boleyn.  And Henry the Eighth died, being
+become excessive fat."
+
+All the ladies, that were present when the Queen-Dauphin made
+this relation, thanked her for having given them so good an
+account of the Court of England; and among the rest Madam de
+Cleves, who could not forbear asking several questions concerning
+Queen Elizabeth.
+
+The Queen-Dauphin caused pictures in miniature to be drawn of all
+the beauties of the Court, in order to send them to the Queen her
+mother.  One day, when that of Madam de Cleves was finishing, the
+Queen-Dauphin came to spend the afternoon with her; the Duke de
+Nemours did not fail to be there; he let slip no opportunities of
+seeing Madam de Cleves, yet without appearing to contrive them. 
+She looked so pretty that day, that he would have fell in love
+with her, though he had not been so before: however he durst not
+keep his eyes fixed upon her, while she was sitting for her
+picture, for fear of showing too much the pleasure he took in
+looking at her.
+
+The Queen-Dauphin asked Monsieur de Cleves for a little picture
+he had of his wife's, to compare it with that which was just
+drawn; everybody gave their judgment of the one and the other;
+and Madam de Cleves ordered the painter to mend something in the
+headdress of that which had been just brought in; the painter in
+obedience to her took the picture out of the case in which it
+was, and having mended it laid it again on the table.
+
+The Duke de Nemours had long wished to have a picture of Madam de
+Cleves; when he saw that which Monsieur de Cleves had, he could
+not resist the temptation of stealing it from a husband, who, he
+believed, was tenderly loved; and he thought that among so many
+persons as were in the same room he should be no more liable to
+suspicion than another.
+
+The Queen-Dauphin was sitting on the bed, and whispering to Madam
+de Cleves, who was standing before her.  Madam de Cleves, through
+one of the curtains that was but half-drawn, spied the Duke de
+Nemours with his back to the table, that stood at the bed's feet,
+and perceived that without turning his face he took something
+very dextrously from off the table; she presently guessed it was
+her picture, and was in such concern about it, that the
+Queen-Dauphin observed she did not attend to what she said, and
+asked her aloud what it was she looked at.  At those words, the
+Duke de Nemours turned about, and met full the eyes of Madam de
+Cleves that were still fixed upon him; he thought it not
+impossible but she might have seen what he had done.
+
+Madam de Cleves was not a little perplexed; it was reasonable to
+demand her picture of him; but to demand it publicly was to
+discover to the whole world the sentiments which the Duke had for
+her, and to demand it in private would be to engage him to speak
+of his love; she judged after all it was better to let him keep
+it, and she was glad to grant him a favour which she could do
+without his knowing that she granted it.  The Duke de Nemours,
+who observed her perplexity, and partly guessed the cause of it,
+came up, and told her softly, "If you have seen what I have
+ventured to do, be so good, Madam, as to let me believe you are
+ignorant of it; I dare ask no more"; having said this he
+withdrew, without waiting for her answer.
+
+The Queen-Dauphin went to take a walk, attended with the rest of
+the ladies; and the Duke de Nemours went home to shut himself up
+in his closet, not being able to support in public the ecstasy he
+was in on having a picture of Madam de Cleves; he tasted
+everything that was sweet in love; he was in love with the finest
+woman of the Court; he found she loved him against her will, and
+saw in all her actions that sort of care and embarrassment which
+love produces in young and innocent hearts.
+
+At night great search was made for the picture; and having found
+the case it used to be kept in, they never suspected it had been
+stolen but thought it might have fallen out by chance.  The
+Prince of Cleves was very much concerned for the loss of it; and
+after having searched for it a great while to no purpose, he told
+his wife, but with an air that showed he did not think so, that
+without doubt she had some secret lover, to whom she had given
+the picture, or who had stole it, and that none but a lover would
+have been contented with the picture without the case.
+
+These words, though spoke in jest, made a lively impression in
+the mind of Madam de Cleves; they gave her remorse, and she
+reflected on the violence of her inclination which hurried her on
+to love the Duke of Nemours; she found she was no longer mistress
+of her words or countenance; she imagined that Lignerolles was
+returned, that she had nothing to fear from the affair of
+England, nor any cause to suspect the Queen-Dauphin; in a word,
+that she had no refuge or defence against the Duke de Nemours but
+by retiring; but as she was not at her liberty to retire, she
+found herself in a very great extremity and ready to fall into
+the last misfortune, that of discovering to the Duke the
+inclination she had for him: she remembered all that her mother
+had said to her on her death-bed, and the advice which she gave
+her, to enter on any resolutions, however difficult they might
+be, rather than engage in gallantry; she remembered also what
+Monsieur de Cleves had told her, when he gave an account of Madam
+de Tournon; she thought she ought to acknowledge to him the
+inclination she had for the Duke de Nemours, and in that thought
+she continued a long time; afterwards she was astonished to have
+entertained so ridiculous a design, and fell back again into her
+former perplexity of not knowing what to choose.
+
+The peace was signed; and the Lady Elizabeth, after a great deal
+of reluctance, resolved to obey the King her father.  The Duke of
+Alva was appointed to marry her in the name of the Catholic King,
+and was very soon expected.  The Duke of Savoy too, who was to
+marry the King's sister, and whose nuptials were to be solemnised
+at the same time, was expected every day.  The King thought of
+nothing but how to grace these marriages with such diversions as
+might display the politeness and magnificence of his Court. 
+Interludes and comedies of the best kind were proposed, but the
+King thought those entertainments too private, and desired to
+have somewhat of a more splendid nature: he resolved to make a
+solemn tournament, to which strangers might be invited, and of
+which the people might be spectators.  The princes and young
+lords very much approved the King's design, especially the Duke
+of Ferrara, Monsieur de Guise, and the Duke de Nemours, who
+surpassed the rest in these sorts of exercises.  The King made
+choice of them to be together with himself the four champions of
+the tournament.
+
+Proclamation was made throughout the kingdom, that on the 15th of
+June in the City of Paris, his most Christian Majesty, and the
+Princes Alphonso d'Ete Duke of Ferrara, Francis of Loraine Duke
+of Guise, and James of Savoy Duke of Nemours would hold an open
+tournament against all comers.  The first combat to be on
+horse-back in the lists, with double armour, to break four
+lances, and one for the ladies; the second combat with swords,
+one to one, or two to two, as the judges of the field should
+direct; the third combat on foot, three pushes of pikes, and six
+hits with the sword.  The champions to furnish lances, swords,
+and pikes, at the choice of the combatants.  Whoever did not
+manage his horse in the carreer to be put out of the lists; four
+judges of the field to give orders.  The combatants who should
+break most lances and perform best to carry the prize, the value
+whereof to be at the discretion of the judges; all the
+combatants, as well French as strangers, to be obliged to touch
+one or more, at their choice, of the shields that should hang on
+the pillar at the end of the lists, where a herald at arms should
+be ready to receive them, and enroll them according to their
+quality, and the shields they had touched; the combatants to be
+obliged to cause their shields and arms to be brought by a
+gentleman and hung up at the pillar three days before the
+tournament, otherwise not to be admitted without leave of the
+champions.
+
+A spacious list was made near the Bastille, which begun from the
+Chateau des Tournelles and crossed the street of St. Anthony, and
+extended as far as the King's stables; on both sides were built
+scaffolds and amphitheatres, which formed a sort of galleries
+that made a very fine sight, and were capable of containing an
+infinite number of people.  The princes and lords were wholly
+taken up in providing what was necessary for a splendid
+appearance, and in mingling in their cyphers and devices somewhat
+of gallantry that had relation to the ladies they were in love
+with.
+
+A few days before the Duke of Alva's arrival, the King made a
+match at tennis with the Duke de Nemours, the Chevalier de Guise,
+and the Viscount de Chartres.  The Queens came to see them play,
+attended with the ladies of the Court, and among others Madam de
+Cleves.  After the game was ended, as they went out of the tennis
+court, Chatelart came up to the Queen-Dauphin, and told her
+fortune had put into his hands a letter of gallantry, that
+dropped out of the Duke de Nemours's pocket.  This Queen, who was
+always very curious in what related to the Duke, bid Chatelart
+give her the letter; he did so, and she followed the Queen her
+mother-in-law, who was going with the King to see them work at
+the lists.  After they had been there some time, the King caused
+some horses to be brought that had been lately taken in, and
+though they were not as yet thoroughly managed, he was for
+mounting one of them, and ordered his attendants to mount others;
+the King and the Duke de Nemours hit upon the most fiery and high
+mettled of them.  The horses were ready to fall foul on one
+another, when the Duke of Nemours, for fear of hurting the King,
+retreated abruptly, and ran back his horse against a pillar with
+so much violence that the shock of it made him stagger.  The
+company ran up to him, and he was thought considerably hurt; but
+the Princess of Cleves thought the hurt much greater than anyone
+else.  The interest she had in it gave her an apprehension and
+concern which she took no care to conceal; she came up to him
+with the Queens, and with a countenance so changed, that one less
+concerned than the Chevalier de Guise might have perceived it:
+perceive it he immediately did, and was much more intent upon the
+condition Madam de Cleves was in, than upon that of the Duke de
+Nemours.  The blow the Duke had given himself had so stunned him,
+that he continued some time leaning his head on those who
+supported him; when he raised himself up, he immediately viewed
+Madam de Cleves, and saw in her face the concern she was in for
+him, and he looked upon her in a manner which made her sense how
+much he was touched with it: afterwards he thanked the Queens for
+the goodness they had expressed to him, and made apologies for
+the condition he had been in before them; and then the King
+ordered him to go to rest.
+
+Madam de Cleves, after she was recovered from the fright she had
+been in, presently reflected on the tokens she had given of it. 
+The Chevalier de Guise did not suffer her to continue long in the
+hope that nobody had perceived it, but giving her his hand to
+lead her out of the lists:  "I have more cause to complain,
+Madam," said he, "than the Duke de Nemours; pardon me, if I
+forget for a moment that profound respect I have always had for
+you, and show you how much my heart is grieved for what my eyes
+have just seen; this is the first time I have ever been so bold
+as to speak to you, and it will be the last.  Death or at least
+eternal absence will remove me from a place where I can live no
+longer, since I have now lost the melancholy comfort I had of
+believing that all who behold you with love are as unhappy as
+myself."
+
+Madam de Cleves made only a confused answer, as if she had not
+understood what the Chevalier's words meant: at another time she
+would have been offended if he had mentioned the passion he had
+for her; but at this moment she felt nothing but the affliction
+to know that he had observed the passion she had for the Duke de
+Nemours.  The Chevalier de Guise was so well convinced of it, and
+so pierced with grief, that from that moment he took a resolution
+never to think of being loved by Madam de Cleves; but that he
+might the better be able to quit a passion which he had thought
+so difficult and so glorious, it was necessary to make choice of
+some other undertaking worthy of employing him; he had his view
+on Rhodes: the taking of which he had formerly had some idea of;
+and when death snatched him away, in the flower of his youth, and
+at a time when he had acquired the reputation of one of the
+greatest Princes of his age, the only regret he had to part with
+life was, that he had not been able to execute so noble a
+resolution, the success whereof he thought infallible from the
+great care he had taken about it.
+
+Madam de Cleves, when she came out of the lists, went to the
+Queen's apartment, with her thoughts wholly taken up with what
+had passed.  The Duke de Nemours came there soon after, richly
+dressed, and like one wholly unsensible of the accident that had
+befallen him; he appeared even more gay than usual, and the joy
+he was in for what he had discovered, gave him an air that very
+much increased his natural agreeableness.  The whole Court was
+surprised when he came in; and there was nobody but asked him how
+he did, except Madam de Cleves, who stayed near the chimney
+pretending not to see him.  The King coming out of his closet,
+and seeing him among others called him to talk to him about his
+late accident.  The Duke passed by Madam de Cleves, and said
+softly to her, "Madam, I have received this day some marks of
+your pity, but they were not such as I am most worthy of." 
+Madam de Cleves suspected that he had taken notice of the concern
+she had been in for him, and what he now said convinced her she
+was not mistaken; it gave her a great deal of concern to find she
+was so little mistress of herself as not to have been able to
+conceal her inclinations from the Chevalier de Guise; nor was she
+the less concerned to see that the Duke de Nemours was acquainted
+with them; yet this last grief was not so entire, but there was a
+certain mixture of pleasure in it.
+
+The Queen-Dauphin, who was extremely impatient to know what there
+was in the letter which Chatelart had given her, came up to Madam
+de Cleves.  "Go read this letter," says she; "'tis addressed
+to the Duke de Nemours, and was probably sent him by the mistress
+for whom he has forsaken all others; if you can't read it now,
+keep it, and bring it me about bedtime and inform me if you know
+the hand."  Having said this, the Queen-Dauphin went away from
+Madam de Cleves, and left her in such astonishment, that she was
+not able for some time to stir out of the place.  The impatience
+and grief she was in not permitting her to stay at Court, she
+went home before her usual hour of retirement; she trembled with
+the letter in her hand, her thoughts were full of confusion, and
+she experienced I know not what of insupportable grief, that she
+had never felt before.  No sooner was she in her closet, but she
+opened the letter and found it as follows:
+
+     I have loved you too well to leave you in a belief that the
+change you observe in me is an effect of lightness; I must inform
+you that your falsehood is the cause of it; you will be surprised
+to hear me speak of your falsehood; you have dissembled it with
+so much skill, and I have taken so much care to conceal my
+knowledge of it from you, that you have reason to be surprised at
+the discovery; I am myself in wonder, that I have discovered
+nothing of it to you before; never was grief equal to mine; I
+thought you had the most violent passion for me, I did not
+conceal that which I had for you, and at the time that I
+acknowledged it to you without reserve, I found that you deceived
+me, that you loved another, and that in all probability I was
+made a sacrifice to this new mistress.  I knew it the day you run
+at the ring, and this was the reason I was not there; at first I
+pretended an indisposition in order to conceal my sorrow, but
+afterwards  I really fell into one, nor could a constitution
+delicate like mine support so violent a shock.  When I began to
+be better, I still counterfeited sickness, that I might have an
+excuse for not seeing and for not writing to you; besides I was
+willing to have time to come to a resolution in what manner to
+deal with you; I took and quitted the same resolution twenty
+times; but at last I concluded you deserved not to see my grief,
+and I resolved not to show you the least mark of it. I had a
+desire to bring down your pride, by letting you see, that my
+passion for you declined of itself: I thought I should by this
+lessen the value of the sacrifice you had made of me, and was
+loth you should have the pleasure of appearing more amiable in
+the eyes of another, by showing her how much I loved you; I
+resolved to write to you in a cold and languishing manner, that
+she, to whom you gave my letters, might perceive my love was at
+an end:  I was unwilling she should have the satisfaction of
+knowing I was sensible that she triumphed over me, or that she
+should increase her triumph by my despair and complaints.  I
+thought I should punish you too little by merely breaking with
+you, and that my ceasing to love you would give you but a slight
+concern, after you had first forsaken me; I found it was
+necessary you should love me, to feel the smart of not being
+loved, which I so severely experienced myself; I was of opinion
+that if anything could rekindle that flame, it would be to let
+you see that mine was extinguished, but to let you see it through
+an endeavour to conceal it from you, as if I wanted the power to
+acknowledge it to you: this resolution I adhered to; I found it
+difficult to take, and when I saw you again I thought it
+impossible to execute.  I was ready a hundred times to break out
+into tears and complaints; my ill state of health, which still
+continued, served as a disguise to hide from you the affliction
+and trouble I was in; afterward I was supported by the pleasure
+of dissembling with you, as you had done with me; however it was
+doing so apparent a violence to myself to tell you or to write to
+you that I loved you, that you immediately perceived I had no
+mind to let you see my affection was altered; you was touched
+with this, you complained of it; I endeavoured to remove your
+fears, but it was done in so forced a manner, that you were still
+more convinced by it, I no longer loved you; in short, I did all
+I intended to do.  The fantasticalness of your heart was such,
+that you advanced towards me in proportion as you saw I retreated
+from you.  I have enjoyed all the pleasure which can arise from
+revenge; I plainly saw, that you loved me more than you had ever
+done, and I showed you I had no longer any love for you.  I had
+even reason to believe that you had entirely abandoned her, for
+whom you had forsaken me; I had ground too to be satisfied you
+had never spoken to her concerning me; but neither your
+discretion in that particular, nor the return of your affection
+can make amends for your inconstancy; your heart has been divided
+between me and another, and you have deceived me; this is
+sufficient wholly to take from me the pleasure I found in being
+loved by you, as I thought I deserved to be, and to confirm me in
+the resolution I have taken never to see you more, which you are
+so much surprised at.
+
+
+Madam de Cleves read this letter, and read it over again several
+times, without knowing at the same time what she had read; she
+saw only that the Duke de Nemours did not love her as she
+imagined and that he loved others who were no less deceived by
+him than she.  What a discovery was this for a person in her
+condition, who had a violent passion, who had just given marks of
+it to a man whom she judged unworthy of it, and to another whom
+she used ill for his sake!  Never was affliction so cutting as
+hers; she imputed the piercingness of it to what had happened
+that day, and believed that if the Duke de Nemours had not had
+ground to believe she loved him she should not have cared whether
+he loved another or not; but she deceived herself, and this evil
+which she found so insupportable was jealousy with all the
+horrors it can be accompanied with.  This letter discovered to
+her a piece of gallantry the Duke de Nemours had been long
+engaged in; she saw the lady who wrote it was a person of wit and
+merit, and deserved to be loved; she found she had more courage
+than herself, and envied her the power she had had of concealing
+her sentiments from the Duke de Nemours; by the close of the
+letter, she saw this lady thought herself beloved, and presently
+suspected that the discretion the Duke had showed in his
+addresses to her, and which she had been so much taken with, was
+only an effect of his passion for this other mistress, whom he
+was afraid of disobliging; in short, she thought of everything
+that could add to her grief and despair.  What reflections did
+she not make on herself, and on the advices her mother had given
+her I how did she repent, that she had not persisted in her
+resolution of retiring, though against the will of Monsieur de
+Cleves, or that she had not pursued her intentions of
+acknowledging to him the inclination she had for the Duke of
+Nemours!  She was convinced, she would have done better to
+discover it to a husband, whose goodness she was sensible of, and
+whose interest it would have been to conceal it, than to let it
+appear to a man who was unworthy of it, who deceived her, who
+perhaps made a sacrifice of her, and who had no view in being
+loved by her but to gratify his pride and vanity; in a word, she
+found, that all the calamities that could befall her, and all the
+extremities she could be reduced to, were less than that single
+one of having discovered to the Duke de Nemours that she loved
+him, and of knowing that he loved another: all her comfort was to
+think, that after the knowledge of this she had nothing more to
+fear from herself, and that she should be entirely eased of the
+inclination she had for the Duke.
+
+She never thought of the orders the Queen-Dauphin had given her,
+to come to her when she went to rest: she went to bed herself,
+and pretended to be ill; so that when Monsieur de Cleves came
+home from the King, they told him she was asleep.  But she was
+far from that tranquillity which inclines to sleep; all the night
+she did nothing but torment herself, and read over and over the
+letter in her hand.
+
+Madam de Cleves was not the only person whom this letter
+disturbed.  The Viscount de Chartres, who had lost it and not the
+Duke de Nemours, was in the utmost inquietude about it.  He had
+been that evening with the Duke of Guise, who had given a great
+entertainment to the Duke of Ferrara his brother-in-law, and to
+all the young people of the Court: it happened that the discourse
+turned upon ingenious letters; and the Viscount de Chartres said
+he had one about him the finest that ever was writ: they urged
+him to show it, and on his excusing himself, the Duke de Nemours
+insisted he had no such letter, and that what he said was only
+out of vanity; the Viscount made him answer, that he urged his
+discretion to the utmost, that nevertheless he would not show the
+letter; but he would read some parts of it, which would make it
+appear few men received the like.  Having said this, he would
+have taken out the letter, but could not find it; he searched for
+it to no purpose.  The company rallied him about it; but he
+seemed so disturbed, that they forbore to speak further of it; he
+withdrew sooner than the others, and went home with great
+impatience, to see if he had not left the letter there.  While he
+was looking for it, one of the Queen's pages came to tell him,
+that the Viscountess d'Usez had thought it necessary to give him
+speedy advice, that it was said at the Queen's Court, that he had
+dropped a letter of gallantry out of his pocket while he was
+playing at tennis; that great part of what the letter contained
+had been related, that the Queen had expressed a great curiosity
+to see it, and had sent to one of her gentlemen for it, but that
+he answered, he had given it to Chatelart.
+
+The page added many other particulars which heightened the
+Viscount's concern; he went out that minute to go to a gentleman
+who was an intimate friend of Chatelart's; and though it was a
+very unseasonable hour, made him get out of bed to go and fetch
+the letter, without letting him know who it was had sent for it,
+or who had lost it.  Chatelart, who was prepossessed with an
+opinion that it belonged to the Duke of Nemours, and that the
+Duke was in love with the Queen-Dauphin, did not doubt but it was
+he who had sent to redemand it, and so answered with a malicious
+sort of joy, that he had put the letter into the Queen-Dauphin's
+hands.  The gentleman brought this answer back to the Viscount de
+Chartres, which increased the uneasiness he was under already,
+and added new vexations to it: after having continued some time
+in an irresolution what to do, he found that the Duke de Nemours
+was the only person whose assistance could draw him out of this
+intricate affair.
+
+Accordingly he went to the Duke's house, and entered his room
+about break of day.  What the Duke had discovered the day before
+with respect to the Princess of Cleves had given him such
+agreeable ideas, that he slept very sweetly; he was very much
+surprised to find himself waked by the Viscount de Chartres, and
+asked him if he came to disturb his rest so early, to be revenged
+of him for what he had said last night at supper.  The Viscount's
+looks soon convinced him, that he came upon a serious business;
+"I am come," said he, "to entrust you with the most important
+affair of my life; I know very well, you are not obliged to me
+for the confidence I place in you, because I do it at a time when
+I stand in need of your assistance; but I know likewise, that I
+should have lost your esteem, if I had acquainted you with all I
+am now going to tell you, without having been forced to it by
+absolute necessity: I have dropped the letter I spoke of last
+night; it is of the greatest consequence to me, that nobody
+should know it is addressed to me; it has been seen by abundance
+of people, who were at the tennis court yesterday when I dropped
+it; you was there too, and the favour I have to ask you, is, to
+say it was you who lost it."  "Sure you think," replied the
+Duke de Nemours smiling, "that I have no mistress, by making
+such a proposal, and that I have no quarrels or inconveniences to
+apprehend by leaving it to be believed that I receive such
+letters."  "I beg you," said the Viscount, "to hear me
+seriously; if you have a mistress, as I doubt not you have,
+though I do not know who she is, it will be easy for you to
+justify yourself, and I'll put you into an infallible way of
+doing it.  As for you, though you should fail in justifying
+yourself, it can cost you nothing but a short falling out; but
+for my part, this accident affects me in a very different manner,
+I shall dishonour a person who has passionately loved me, and is
+one of the most deserving women in the world; on the other side,
+I shall draw upon myself an implacable hatred that will ruin my
+fortune, and perhaps proceed somewhat further."  "I do not
+comprehend what you say," replied the Duke de Nemours, "but I
+begin to see that the reports we have had of your interest in a
+great Princess are not wholly without ground."  "They are
+not," replied the Viscount, "but I would to God they were: you
+would not see me in the perplexity I am in; but I must relate the
+whole affair to you, to convince you how much I have to fear.
+
+"Ever since I came to Court, the Queen has treated me with a
+great deal of favour and distinction, and I had grounds to
+believe that she was very kindly disposed towards me: there was
+nothing, however, particular in all this, and I never presumed to
+entertain any thoughts of her but what were full of respect; so
+far from it, that I was deeply in love with Madam de Themines;
+anyone that sees her may easily judge, 'tis very possible for one
+to be greatly in love with her, when one is beloved by her, and
+so I was.  About two years ago, the Court being at Fontainebleau,
+I was two or three times in conversation with the Queen, at hours
+when there were very few people in her apartment: it appeared to
+me, that my turn of wit was agreeable to her, and I observed she
+always approved what I said.  One day among others she fell into
+a discourse concerning confidence.  I said there was nobody in
+whom I entirely confided, that I found people always repented of
+having done so, and that I knew a great many things of which I
+had never spoke: the Queen told me, she esteemed me the more for
+it, that she had not found in France anyone that could keep a
+secret, and that this was what had embarrassed her more than
+anything else, because it had deprived her of the pleasure of
+having a confidant; that nothing was so necessary in life as to
+have somebody one could open one's mind to with safety,
+especially for people of her rank.  Afterwards she frequently
+resumed the same discourse, and acquainted me with very
+particular circumstances; at last I imagined she was desirous to
+learn my secrets, and to entrust me with her own; this thought
+engaged me strictly to her.  I was so pleased with this
+distinction that I made my court to her with greater assiduity
+than usual.  One evening the King and the ladies of the Court
+rode out to take the air in the forest, but the Queen, being a
+little indisposed did not go; I stayed to wait upon her, and she
+walked down to the pond-side, and dismissed her gentlemen ushers,
+that she might be more at liberty.  After she had taken a few
+turns she came up to me, and bid me follow her; `I would speak
+with you,' says she, `and by what I shall say you will see I am
+your friend.'  She stopped here, and looking earnestly at me;
+`You are in love,' continued she, `and because perhaps you have
+made nobody your confidant, you think that your love is not
+known; but it is known, and even by persons who are interested in
+it: you are observed, the place where you see your mistress is
+discovered, and there's a design to surprise you; I don't know
+who she is, nor do I ask you to tell me, I would only secure you
+from the misfortunes into which you may fall.'  See, I beseech
+you, what a snare the Queen laid for me, and how difficult it was
+for me not to fall into it; she had a mind to know if I was in
+love, and as she did not ask me who I was in love with, but let
+me see her intention was only to serve me, I had no suspicion
+that she spoke either out of curiosity or by design.
+
+"Nevertheless, contrary to all probability, I saw into the
+bottom of the matter; I was in love with Madam de Themines, but
+though she loved me again, I was not happy enough to have private
+places to see her in without danger of being discovered there,
+and so I was satisfied she could not be the person the Queen
+meant; I knew also, that I had an intrigue with another woman
+less handsome and less reserved than Madam de Themines, and that
+it was not impossible but the place where I saw her might be
+discovered; but as this was a business I little cared for, it was
+easy for me to guard against all sorts of danger by forbearing to
+see her; I resolved therefore to acknowledge nothing of it to the
+Queen, but to assure her on the contrary that I had a long time
+laid aside the desire of gaining women's affections, even where I
+might hope for success, because I found them all in some measure
+unworthy of engaging the heart of an honourable man, and that it
+must be something very much above them which could touch me. 
+`You do not answer me ingenuously,' replied the Queen; `I am
+satisfied of the contrary; the free manner in which I speak to
+you ought to oblige you to conceal nothing from me; I would have
+you,' continued she, `be of the number of my friends; but I would
+not, after having admitted you into that rank, be ignorant of
+your engagements; consider, whether you think my friendship will
+be too dear at the price of making me your confidant; I give you
+two days to think on it; but then, consider well of the answer
+you shall make me, and remember that if ever I find hereafter you
+have deceived me, I shall never forgive you as long as I live.'
+
+"Having said this, the Queen left me without waiting for my
+answer; you may imagine how full my thoughts were of what she had
+said to me; the two days she had given me to consider of it I did
+not think too long a time to come to a resolution; I found she
+had a mind to know if I was in love, and that her desire was I
+should not be so; I foresaw the consequences of what I was going
+to do, my vanity was flattered with the thought of having a
+particular interest with the Queen, and a Queen whose person is
+still extremely amiable; on the other hand, I was in love with
+Madam de Themines, and though I had committed a petty treason
+against her by my engagement with the other woman I told you of,
+I could not find in my heart to break with her; I foresaw also
+the danger I should expose myself to, if I deceived the Queen,
+and how hard it would be to do it; nevertheless I could not
+resolve to refuse what fortune offered me, and was willing to run
+the hazard of anything my ill conduct might draw upon me; I broke
+with her with whom I kept a correspondence that might be
+discovered, and was in hopes of concealing that I had with Madam
+de Themines.
+
+"At the two days' end, as I entered the room where the Queen was
+with all the ladies about her, she said aloud to me, and with a
+grave air that was surprising enough, `Have you thought of the
+business I charged you with, and do you know the truth of it?' 
+`Yes, Madam,' answered I, `and 'tis as I told your Majesty.' 
+`Come in the evening, when I am writing,' replied she, `and you
+shall have further orders.'  I made a respectful bow without
+answering anything, and did not fail to attend at the hour she
+had appointed me.  I found her in the gallery, with her secretary
+and one of her women.  As soon as she saw me she came to me, and
+took me to the other end of the gallery;  `Well,' says she,
+`after having considered thoroughly of this matter, have you
+nothing to say to me, and as to my manner of treating you, does
+not it deserve that you should deal sincerely with me?'  `It is,
+Madam,' answered I, `because I deal sincerely, that I have
+nothing more to say, and I swear to your Majesty with all the
+respect I owe you, that I have no engagement with any woman of
+the Court.'  `I will believe it,' replied the Queen, `because I
+wish it; and I wish it, because I desire to have you entirely
+mine, and because it would be impossible for me to be satisfied
+with your friendship, if you were in love; one cannot confide in
+those who are; one cannot be secure of their secrecy; they are
+too much divided, and their mistresses have always the first
+place in their thoughts, which does not suit at all with the
+manner in which I would have you live with me: remember then, it
+is upon your giving me your word that you have no engagement,
+that I choose you for my confidant; remember, I insist on having
+you entirely to myself, and that you shall have no friend of
+either sex but such as I shall approve, and that you abandon
+every care but that of pleasing me; I'll not desire you to
+neglect any opportunity for advancing your fortune; I'll conduct
+your interests with more application than you can yourself, and
+whatever I do for you, I shall think myself more than
+recompensed, if you answer my expectations; I make choice of you,
+to open my heart's griefs to you, and to have your assistance in
+softening them; you may imagine they are not small; I bear in
+appearance without much concern the King's engagement with the
+Duchess of Valentinois, but it is insupportable to me; she
+governs the King, she imposes upon him, she slights me, all my
+people are at her beck.  The Queen, my daughter-in-law, proud of
+her beauty, and the authority of her uncles, pays me no respect. 
+The Constable Montmorency is master of the King and kingdom; he
+hates me, and has given proofs of his hatred, which I shall never
+forget.  The Mareschal de St. Andre is a bold young favourite,
+who uses me no better than the others.  The detail of my
+misfortunes would move your pity; hitherto I have not dared to
+confide in anybody, I confide in you, take care that I never
+repent it, and be my only consolation.'  The Queen blushed, when
+she had ended this discourse, and I was so truly touched with the
+goodness she had expressed to me, that I was going to throw
+myself at her feet: from that day she has placed an entire
+confidence in me, she has done nothing without advising with me,
+and the intimacy and union between us still subsists.
+
+
+III
+
+"In the meantime, however busy and full I was of my new
+engagement with the Queen, I still kept fair with Madam de
+Themines by a natural inclination which it was not in my power to
+conquer; I thought she cooled in her love to me, and whereas, had
+I been prudent, I should have made use of the change I observed
+in her for my cure, my love redoubled upon it, and I managed so
+ill that the Queen got some knowledge of this intrigue.  Jealousy
+is natural to persons of her nation, and perhaps she had a
+greater affection for me than she even imagined herself; at least
+the report of my being in love gave her so much uneasiness, that
+I thought myself entirely ruined with her; however I came into
+favour again by virtue of submissions, false oaths, and
+assiduity; but I should not have been able to have deceived her
+long, had not Madam de Themines's change disengaged me from her
+against my will; she convinced me she no longer loved me, and I
+was so thoroughly satisfied of it, that I was obliged to give her
+no further uneasiness, but to let her be quiet.  Some time after
+she wrote me this letter which I have lost; I learned from it,
+she had heard of the correspondence I had with the other woman I
+told you of, and that that was the reason of her change.  As I
+had then nothing further left to divide me, the Queen was well
+enough satisfied with me; but the sentiments I have for her not
+being of a nature to render me incapable of other engagements,
+and love not being a thing that depends on our will, I fell in
+love with Madam de Martigues, of whom I was formerly a great
+admirer, while she was with Villemontais, maid of honour to the
+Queen-Dauphin; I have reason to believe she does not hate me; the
+discretion I observe towards her, and which she does not wholly
+know the reasons of, is very agreeable to her; the Queen has not
+the least suspicion on her account, but she has another jealousy
+which is not less troublesome; as Madam de Martigues is
+constantly with the Queen-Dauphin, I go there much oftener than
+usual; the Queen imagines that 'tis this Princess I am in love
+with; the Queen-Dauphin's rank, which is equal to her own, and
+the superiority of her youth and beauty, create a jealousy that
+rises even to fury, and fills her with a hatred against her
+daughter-in-law that cannot be concealed.  The Cardinal of
+Loraine, who, I believe has been long aspiring to the Queen's
+favour, and would be glad to fill the place I possess, is, under
+pretence of reconciling the two Queens, become master of the
+differences between them; I doubt not but he has discovered the
+true cause of the Queen's anger, and I believe he does me all
+manner of ill offices, without letting her see that he designs
+it. This is the condition my affairs are in at present; judge
+what effect may be produced by the letter which I have lost, and
+which I unfortunately put in my pocket with design to restore it
+to Madam de Themines: if the Queen sees this letter, she will
+know I have deceived her; and that almost at the very same time
+that I deceived her for Madam de Themines, I deceived Madam de
+Themines for another; judge what an idea this will give her of
+me, and whether she will ever trust me again.  If she does not
+see the letter, what shall I say to her?  She knows it has been
+given to the Queen-Dauphin; she will think Chatelart knew that
+Queen's hand, and that the letter is from her; she will fancy the
+person of whom the letter expresses a jealousy, is perhaps
+herself; in short, there is nothing which she may not think, and
+there is nothing which I ought not to fear from her thoughts; add
+to this, that I am desperately in love with Madam de Martigues,
+and that the Queen-Dauphin will certainly show her this letter,
+which she will conclude to have been lately writ.  Thus shall I
+be equally embroiled both with the person I love most, and with
+the person I have most cause to fear.  Judge, after this, if I
+have not reason to conjure you to say the letter is yours, and to
+beg of you to get it out of the Queen-Dauphin's hands."
+
+"I am very well satisfied," answered the Duke de Nemours,
+"that one cannot be in a greater embarrassment than that you are
+in, and it must be confessed you deserve it; I have been accused
+of being inconstant in my amours, and of having had several
+intrigues at the same time, but you out-go me so far, that I
+should not so much as have dared to imagine what you have
+undertaken; could you pretend to keep Madam de Themines, and be
+at the same engaged with the Queen? did you hope to have an
+engagement with the Queen, and be able to deceive her? she is
+both an Italian and a Queen, and by consequence full of jealousy,
+suspicion, and pride.  As soon as your good fortune, rather than
+your good conduct, had set you at liberty from an engagement you
+was entangled in, you involved yourself in new ones, and you
+fancied that in the midst of the Court you could be in love with
+Madam de Martigues without the Queen's perceiving it: you could
+not have been too careful to take from her the shame of having
+made the first advances; she has a violent passion for you; you
+have more discretion than to tell it me, and I than to ask you to
+tell it; it is certain she is jealous of you, and has truth on
+her side."  "And does it belong to you," interrupted the
+Viscount, "to load me with reprimands, and ought not your own
+experience to make you indulgent to my faults?
+
+However I grant I am to blame; but think, I conjure you, how to
+draw me out of this difficulty"; "I think you must go to the
+Queen-Dauphin as soon as she is awake, and ask her for the
+letter, as if you had lost it."  "I have told you already,"
+replied the Duke de Nemours, "that what you propose is somewhat
+extraordinary, and that there are difficulties in it which may
+affect my own particular interest; but besides, if this letter
+has been seen to drop out of your pocket, I should think it would
+be hard to persuade people that it dropped out of mine."  "I
+thought I had told you," replied the Viscount, "that the
+Queen-Dauphin had been informed that you dropped it."  "How,"
+said the Duke de Nemours hastily, apprehending the ill
+consequence this mistake might be of to him with Madam de Cleves,
+"has the Queen-Dauphin been told I dropped the letter?" 
+"Yes," replied the Viscount, "she has been told so; and what
+occasioned the mistake was, that there were several gentlemen of
+the two Queens in a room belonging to the tennis court, where our
+clothes were put up, when your servants and mine went together to
+fetch them; then it was the letter fell out of the pocket; those
+gentlemen took it up, and read it aloud; some believed it
+belonged to you, and others to me; Chatelart, who took it, and to
+whom I have just sent for it, says, he gave it to the
+Queen-Dauphin as a letter of yours; and those who have spoken of
+it to the Queen have unfortunately told her it was mine; so that
+you may easily do what I desire of you, and free me from this
+perplexity."
+
+The Duke de Nemours had always had a great friendship for the
+Viscount de Chartres, and the relation he bore to Madam de Cleves
+still made him more dear to him; nevertheless he could not
+prevail with himself to run the risk of her having heard of this
+letter, as of a thing in which he was concerned; he fell into a
+deep musing, and the Viscount guessed pretty near what was the
+subject of his meditations; "I plainly see," said he, "that
+you are afraid of embroiling yourself with your mistress, and I
+should almost fancy the Queen-Dauphin was she, if the little
+jealousy you seem to have of Monsieur d'Anville did not take me
+off from that thought; but be that as it will, it is not
+reasonable you should sacrifice your repose to mine, and I'll put
+you in a way of convincing her you love, that this letter is
+directed to me, and not to you; here is a billet from Madam
+d'Amboise, who is a friend of Madam de Themines, and was her
+confidant in the amour between her and me; in this she desires me
+to send her Madam de Themines's letter, which I have lost; my
+name is on the superscription, and the contents of the billet
+prove, without question, that the letter she desires is the same
+with that which has been found; I'll leave this billet in your
+hands, and agree that you may show it to your mistress in your
+justification; I conjure you not to lose a moment, but to go this
+morning to the Queen-Dauphin."
+
+The Duke de Nemours promised the Viscount he would, and took
+Madam d'Amboise's billet; nevertheless his design was not to see
+the Queen-Dauphin; he thought more pressing business required his
+care; he made no question, but she had already spoke of the
+letter to Madam de Cleves, and could not bear that a person he
+loved so desperately, should have ground to believe he had
+engagements with any other.
+
+He went to the Princess of Cleves as soon as he thought she might
+be awake; and ordered her to be told, that, if he had not
+business of the last consequence, he would not have desired the
+honour to see her at so extraordinary an hour.  Madam de Cleves
+was in bed, and her mind was tossed to and fro by a thousand
+melancholy thoughts that she had had during the night; she was
+extremely surprised to hear the Duke de Nemours asked for her;
+the anxiety she was in made her presently answer, that she was
+ill, and could not speak with him.
+
+The Duke was not at all shocked at this refusal; he thought it
+presaged him no ill, that she expressed a little coldness at a
+time when she might be touched with jealousy.  He went to the
+Prince of Cleves's apartment, and told him he came from that of
+his lady, and that he was very sorry he could not see her,
+because he had an affair to communicate to her of great
+consequence to the Viscount de Chartres; he explained in few
+words to the Prince the importance of this business, and the
+Prince immediately introduced him into his lady's chamber.  Had
+she not been in the dark, she would have found it hard to have
+concealed the trouble and astonishment she was in to see the Duke
+de Nemours introduced by her husband.  Monsieur de Cleves told
+her the business was about a letter, wherein her assistance was
+wanting for the interest of the Viscount, that she was to consult
+with Monsieur de Nemours what was to be done; and that as for him
+he was going to the King, who had just sent for him.
+
+The Duke de Nemours had his heart's desire, in being alone with
+Madam de Cleves; "I am come to ask you, Madam," said he, "if
+the Queen-Dauphin has not spoke to you of a letter which
+Chatelart gave her yesterday."  "She said something to me of
+it," replied Madam de Cleves, "but I don't see what relation
+this letter his to the interests of my uncle, and I can assure
+you that he is not named in it."  "It is true, Madam," replied
+the Duke de Nemours, "he is not named in it but yet it is
+addressed to him, and it very much imports him that you should
+get it out of the Queen-Dauphin's hands."  "I cannot
+comprehend," replied the Princess, "how it should be of any
+consequence to him, if this letter should be seen, nor what
+reason there is to redemand it in his name."  "If you please to
+be at leisure to hear me, Madam," said Monsieur de Nemours,
+"I'll presently make you acquainted with the true state of the
+thing, and inform you of matters of so great importance to the
+Viscount, that I would not even have trusted the Prince of Cleves
+with them, had I not stood in need of his assistance to have the
+honour to see you."  "I believe," said Madam de Cleves in a
+very unconcerned manner, "that anything you may give yourself
+the trouble of telling me, will be to little purpose; you had
+better go to the Queen-Dauphin, and plainly tell her, without
+using these roundabout ways, the interest you have in that
+letter, since she has been told, as well as I, that it belongs to
+you."
+
+The uneasiness of mind which Monsieur de Nemours observed in
+Madam de Cleves gave him the most sensible pleasure he ever knew,
+and lessened his impatience to justify himself:  "I don't know,
+Madam," replied he, "what the Queen-Dauphin may have been told;
+but I am not at all concerned in that letter; it is addressed to
+the Viscount."  "I believe so," replied Madam de Cleves, "but
+the Queen-Dauphin has heard to the contrary, and she won't think
+it very probable that the Viscount's letters should fall out of
+your pocket; you must therefore have some reason, that I don't
+know of, for concealing the truth of this matter from the
+Queen-Dauphin; I advise you to confess it to her."  "I have
+nothing to confess to her," says he, "the letter is not
+directed to me, and if there be anyone that I would have
+satisfied of it, it is not the Queen-Dauphin; but, Madam, since
+the Viscount's interest is nearly concerned in this, be pleased
+to let me acquaint you with some matters that are worthy of your
+curiosity."  Madam de Cleves by her silence showed her readiness
+to hear him, and he as succinctly as possible related to her all
+he had just heard from the Viscount.  Though the circumstances
+were naturally surprising, and proper to create attention, yet
+Madam de Cleves heard them with such coldness, that she seemed
+either not to believe them true, or to think them indifferent to
+her; she continued in this temper until the Duke de Nemours spoke
+of Madam d'Amboise's billet, which was directed to the Viscount,
+and was a proof of all he had been saying; as Madam de Cleves
+knew that this lady was a friend of Madam de Themines, she found
+some probability in what the Duke de Nemours had said, which made
+her think, that the letter perhaps was not addressed to him; this
+thought suddenly, and in spite of herself, drew her out of the
+coldness and indifferency she had until then been in.  The Duke
+having read the billet, which fully justified him, presented it
+to her to read, and told her she might possibly know the hand. 
+She could not forbear taking it, and examining the superscription
+to see if it was addressed to the Viscount de Chartres, and
+reading it all over, that she might the better judge, if the
+letter which was redemanded was the same with that she had in her
+hand.  The Duke de Nemours added whatever he thought proper to
+persuade her of it; and as one is easily persuaded of the truth
+of what one wishes, he soon convinced Madam de Cleves that he had
+no concern in the letter.
+
+She began now to reason with him concerning the embarrassment and
+danger the Viscount was in, to blame his ill conduct, and to
+think of means to help him: she was astonished at the Queen's
+proceedings, and confessed to the Duke that she had the letter;
+in short, she no sooner believed him innocent, but she discoursed
+with him with greater ease and freedom, concerning what she would
+scarce before vouchsafe to hear; they agreed that the letter
+should not be restored to the Queen-Dauphin, for fear she should
+show it to Madam de Martigues, who knew Madam de Themines's hand,
+and would easily guess, by the interest she had in the Viscount,
+that it was addressed to him; they agreed also, that they ought
+not to entrust the Queen-Dauphin with all that concerned the
+Queen her mother-in-law.  Madam de Cleves, under pretence of
+serving her uncle, was pleased to be the Duke de Nemours's
+confidant in the secrets he had imparted to her.
+
+The Duke would not have confined his discourse to the Viscount's
+concerns, but from the liberty he had of free conversation with
+her, would have assumed a boldness he had never yet done, had not
+a message been brought in to Madam de Cleves, that the
+Queen-Dauphin had sent for her.  The Duke was forced to withdraw;
+he went to the Viscount to inform him, that after he had left
+him, he thought it more proper to apply to Madam de Cleves, his
+niece, than to go directly to the Queen-Dauphin; he did not want
+reasons to make him approve what he had done, and to give him
+hopes of good success.
+
+In the meantime Madam de Cleves dressed herself in all haste to
+go to the Queen-Dauphin; she was no sooner entered her chamber,
+but she called her to her, and whispered her, "I have been
+waiting for you these two hours, and was never so perplexed about
+disguising a truth as I have been this morning: the Queen has
+heard of the letter I gave you yesterday, and believes it was the
+Viscount de Chartres that dropped it; you know, she has some
+interest to be satisfied in it; she has been in search for the
+letter, and has caused Chatelart to be asked for it; who said he
+had given it to me; they have been to ask me for it, under
+pretence it was an ingenious letter which the Queen had a
+curiosity to see; I durst not say that you had it, for fear she
+should think I had given it you on your uncle the Viscount's
+account, and that there was a correspondence between him and me. 
+I was already satisfied that his seeing me so often gave her
+uneasiness, so that I said the letter was in the clothes I had on
+yesterday, and that those who had them in keeping were gone
+abroad; give me the letter immediately," added she, "that I may
+send it her, and that I may read it before I send it to see if I
+know the hand."
+
+Madam de Cleves was harder put to it than she expected; "I don't
+know, Madam, what you will do," answered she, "for Monsieur de
+Cleves, to whom I gave it to read, returned it to the Duke of
+Nemours, who came early this morning to beg him to get it of you.
+
+Monsieur de Cleves had the imprudence to tell him he had it, and
+the weakness to yield to the entreaties the Duke de Nemours made
+that he would restore it him."  "You throw me into the greatest
+embarrassment I can possibly be in," replied the Queen-Dauphin;
+"and you have given this letter to the Duke de Nemours.  Since
+it was I that gave it you, you ought not to have restored it
+without my leave; what would you have me say to the Queen, and
+what can she imagine?  She will think, and not without reason,
+that this letter concerns myself, and that there is something
+between the Viscount and me; she will never be persuaded the
+letter belonged to the Duke de Nemours."  "I am very much
+concerned," replied Madam de Cleves, "for the misfortune I have
+occasioned, and I believe the difficulty I have brought you into
+is very great; but 'twas Monsieur de Cleves's fault, and not
+mine."  "You are in fault," replied the Queen-Dauphin, "for
+having given him the letter; and I believe you are the only woman
+in the world that acquaints her husband with all she knows." 
+"I acknowledge myself in fault, Madam," replied the Princess of
+Cleves, "but let us rather think of preventing the consequences
+of what I have done, than insist on the fault itself."  "Do you
+remember, pretty near, what the letter contains?" says the
+Queen-Dauphin.  "Yes, Madam, I do," replied she, "for I have
+read it over more than once."  "If so," said the
+Queen-Dauphin, "you must immediately get it written out in an
+unknown hand, and I'll send it to the Queen; she'll not show it
+those who have seen it already; and though she should, I'll stand
+in it, that it is the same Chatelart gave me; and he'll not dare
+to say otherwise."
+
+Madam de Cleves approved of this expedient, and the more because
+it gave her an opportunity of sending for the Duke de Nemours, to
+have the letter itself again, in order to have it copied word for
+word, imitating as near as may be the hand it was written in, and
+she thought this would effectually deceive the Queen.  As soon as
+she was got home, she informed her husband of what had passed
+between her and the Queen-Dauphin, and begged him to send for the
+Duke de Nemours.  The Duke was sent for, and came immediately;
+Madam de Cleves told him all she had told her husband, and asked
+for the letter; but the Duke answered, that he had already
+returned it to the Viscount de Chartres, who was so overjoyed
+upon having it again, and being freed from the danger he was in,
+that he sent it immediately to Madam de Themines's friend.  Madam
+de Cleves was in a new embarrassment on this occasion: in short,
+after having consulted together, they resolved to form the letter
+by memory; and, in order to go about it, they locked themselves
+up, and left orders that nobody should be admitted, and that all
+the Duke de Nemours's attendants should be sent away.  Such an
+appearance of secret confidence was no small charm to Monsieur de
+Nemours, and even to Madam de Cleves; her husband's presence, and
+the interests of her uncle the Viscount de Chartres, were
+considerations which in great measure removed her scruples, and
+made this opportunity of seeing and being with the Duke de
+Nemours so agreeable to her, that she never before experienced a
+joy so pure and free from allay; this threw her into a freedom
+and gaiety of spirit which the Duke had never observed in her
+till now, and which made him still more passionately in love with
+her: as he had never known such agreeable moments, his vivacity
+was much heightened; and whenever Madam de Cleves was beginning
+to recollect and write the letter, instead of assisting her
+seriously, did nothing but interrupt her with wit and pleasantry. 
+Madam de Cleves was as gay as he, so that they had been locked up
+a considerable time, and two messages had come from the
+Queen-Dauphin to hasten Madam de Cleves, before they had half
+finished the letter.
+
+The Duke de Nemours was glad to prolong the time that was so
+agreeable to him, and neglected the concerns of his friend; Madam
+de Cleves was not at all tired, and neglected also the concerns
+of her uncle: at last, with much ado, about four o'clock the
+letter was finished, and was so ill done, and the copy so unlike
+the original, as to the handwriting, that the queen must have
+taken very little care to come at the truth of the matter, if she
+had been imposed on by so ill a counterfeit.  Accordingly she was
+not deceived; and however industrious they were to persuade her,
+that this letter was addressed to the Duke de Nemours, she
+remained satisfied not only that it was addressed to the Viscount
+de Chartres, but that the Queen-Dauphin was concerned in it, and
+that there was a correspondence between them; this heightened her
+hatred against that Princess to such a degree, that she never
+forgave her, and never ceased persecuting her till she had driven
+her out of France.
+
+As for the Viscount de Chartres, his credit was entirely ruined
+with her; and whether the Cardinal of Loraine had already
+insinuated himself so far into her esteem as to govern her, or
+whether the accident of this letter, which made it appear that
+the Viscount had deceived her, enabled her to discover the other
+tricks he had played her, it is certain he could never after
+entirely reconcile himself to her; their correspondence was broke
+off, and at length she ruined him by means of the conspiracy of
+Amboise, in which he was involved.
+
+After the letter was sent to the Queen-Dauphin, Monsieur de
+Cleves and Monsieur de Nemours went away; Madam de Cleves
+continued alone, and being no longer supported by the joy which
+the presence of what one loves gives one, she seemed like one
+newly waked from a dream; she beheld, with astonishment, the
+difference between the condition she was in the night before, and
+that she was in at this time: she called to mind, how cold and
+sullen she was to the Duke de Nemours, while she thought Madam de
+Themines's letter was addressed to him, and how calm and sweet a
+situation of mind succeeded that uneasiness, as soon as he was
+satisfied he was not concerned in that letter; when she
+reflected, that she reproached herself as guilty for having given
+him the foregoing day only some marks of sensibility, which mere
+compassion might have produced, and that by her peevish humour
+this morning, she had expressed such a jealousy as was a certain
+proof of passion, she thought she was not herself; when she
+reflected further, that the Duke de Nemours saw plainly that she
+knew he was in love with her, and that, notwithstanding her
+knowing it, she did not use him the worse for it, even in her
+husband's presence; but that, on the contrary, she had never
+behaved so favourably to him; when she considered, she was the
+cause of Monsieur de Cleves's sending for him, and that she had
+just passed an afternoon in private with him; when she considered
+all this, she found, there was something within her that held
+intelligence with the Duke de Nemours, and that she deceived a
+husband who least deserved it; and she was ashamed to appear so
+little worthy of esteem, even in the eyes of her lover; but what
+she was able to support less than all the rest was, the
+remembrance of the condition in which she spent the last night,
+and the pricking griefs she felt from a suspicion that the Duke
+de Nemours was in love with another, and that she was deceived by
+him.
+
+Never till then was she acquainted with the dreadful inquietudes
+that flow from jealousy and distrust; she had applied all her
+cares to prevent herself from falling in love with the Duke de
+Nemours, and had not before had any fear of his being in love
+with another: though the suspicions which this letter had given
+her were effaced, yet they left her sensible of the hazard there
+was of being deceived, and gave her impressions of distrust and
+jealousy which she had never felt till that time; she was
+surprised that she had never yet reflected how improbable it was
+that a man of the Duke de Nemours's turn, who had showed so much
+inconstancy towards women, should be capable of a lasting and
+sincere passion; she thought it next to impossible for her to be
+convinced of the truth of his love; "But though I could be
+convinced of it," says she, "what have I to do in it?  Shall I
+permit it?  Shall I make a return?  Shall I engage in gallantry,
+be false to Monsieur de Cleves, and be false to myself?  In a
+word, shall I go to expose myself to the cruel remorses and
+deadly griefs that rise from love?  I am subdued and vanquished
+by a passion, which hurries me away in spite of myself; all my
+resolutions are vain; I had the same thoughts yesterday that I
+have today, and I act today contrary to what I resolved
+yesterday; I must convey myself out of the sight of the Duke de
+Nemours; I must go into the country, however fantastical my
+journey may appear; and if Monseur de Cleves is obstinately bent
+to hinder me, or to know my reasons for it, perhaps I shall do
+him and myself the injury to acquaint him with them."  She
+continued in this resolution, and spent the whole evening at
+home, without going to the Queen-Dauphin to enquire what had
+happened with respect to the counterfeited letter.
+
+When the Prince of Cleves returned home, she told him she was
+resolved to go into the country; that she was not very well, and
+had occasion to take the air.  Monsieur de Cleves, to whom she
+appeared so beautiful that he could not think her indisposition
+very considerable, at first made a jest of her design, and
+answered that she had forgot that the nuptials of the Princesses
+and the tournament were very near, and that she had not too much
+time to prepare matters so as to appear there as magnificently as
+other ladies.  What her husband said did not make her change her
+resolution, and she begged he would agree, that while he was at
+Compiegne with the King, she might go to Colomiers, a pretty
+house then building, within a day's journey of Paris.  Monsieur
+de Cleves consented to it; she went thither with a design of not
+returning so soon, and the King set out for Compiegne, where he
+was to stay but few days.
+
+The Duke de Nemours was mightily concerned he had not seen Madam
+de Cleves since that afternoon which he had spent so agreeably
+with her, and which had increased his hopes; he was so impatient
+to see her again that he could not rest; so that when the King
+returned to Paris, the Duke resolved to go to see his sister the
+Duchess de Mercoeur, who was at a country seat of hers very near
+Colomiers; he asked the Viscount to go with him, who readily
+consented to it.  The Duke de Nemours did this in hopes of
+visiting Madam de Cleves, in company of the Viscount.
+
+Madam de Mercoeur received them with a great deal of joy, and
+thought of nothing but giving them all the pleasures and
+diversions of the country; one day, as they were hunting a stag,
+the Duke de Nemours lost himself in the forest, and upon
+enquiring his way was told he was near Colomiers; at that word,
+Colomiers, without further reflection, or so much as knowing what
+design he was upon, he galloped on full speed the way that had
+been showed him; as he rode along he came by chance to the
+made-ways and walks, which he judged led to the castle: at the
+end of these walks he found a pavilion, at the lower end of which
+was a large room with two closets, the one opening into a
+flower-garden, and the other looking into a spacious walk in the
+park; he entered the pavilion, and would have stopped to observe
+the beauty of it, if he had not seen in the walk the Prince and
+Princess of Cleves, attended with a numerous train of their
+domestics.  As he did not expect to meet Monsieur de Cleves
+there, whom he had left with the King, he thought at first of
+hiding himself; he entered the closet which looked into the
+flower-garden, with design to go out that way by a door which
+opened to the forest; but observing Madam de Cleves and her
+husband were sat down under the pavilion, and that their
+attendants stayed in the park, and could not come to him without
+passing by the place where Monsieur and Madam de Cleves were, he
+could not deny himself the pleasure of seeing this Princess, nor
+resist the curiosity he had to hear her conversation with a
+husband, who gave him more jealousy than any of his rivals.  He
+heard Monsieur de Cleves say to his wife, "But why will you not
+return to Paris?  What can keep you here in the country?  You
+have of late taken a fancy for solitude, at which I am both
+surprised and concerned, because it deprives me of your company:
+I find too, you are more melancholy than usual, and I am afraid
+you have some cause of grief."  "I have nothing to trouble my
+mind," answered she with an air of confusion, "but there is
+such a bustle at Court, and such a multitude of people always at
+your house, that it is impossible but both body and mind should
+be fatigued, and one cannot but desire repose."  "Repose,"
+answered he, "is not very proper for one of your age; you are at
+home, and at Court, in such a manner as cannot occasion
+weariness, and I am rather afraid you desire to live apart from
+me."  "You would do me great wrong to think so," replied she
+with yet more confusion, "but I beg you to leave me here; if you
+could stay here, and without company, I should be very glad of
+it; nothing would be more agreeable to me than your conversation
+in this retirement, provided you would approve not to have about
+you that infinite number of people, who in a manner never leave
+you."  "Ah!  Madam," cries Monsieur de Cleves, "both your
+looks and words convince me that you have reasons to desire to be
+alone, which I don't know; I conjure you to tell them me."  He
+urged her a great while to inform him, without being able to
+oblige her to it; and after she had excused herself in a manner
+which still increased her husband's curiosity, she continued in a
+deep silence, with her eyes cast down then, taking up the
+discourse on a sudden, and looking upon him, "Force me not,"
+said she, "to confess a thing to you which I have not the power
+to confess, though I have often designed it; remember only, that
+it is not prudent a woman of my years, and mistress of her own
+conduct, should remain exposed in the midst of a Court."  "What
+is it, Madam," cried Monsieur de Cleves, "that you lead me to
+imagine?  I dare not speak it, for fear of offending you." 
+Madam de Cleves making no answer, her silence confirmed her
+husband in what he thought; "You say nothing to me," says he,
+"and that tells me clearly, that I am not mistaken."  "Alas,
+sir," answered she, falling on her knees, "I am going to make a
+confession to you, such as no woman ever yet made to her husband;
+but the innocence of my intentions, and of my conduct, give me
+power to do it; it is true, I have reasons to absent myself from
+Court, and I would avoid the dangers persons of my age are
+sometimes liable to; I have never shown any mark of weakness, and
+I cannot apprehend I ever shall, if you will permit me to retire
+from Court, since now I have not Madam de Chartres to assist me
+in my conduct; however dangerous a step I am taking, I take it
+with pleasure to preserve myself worthy of you; I ask you a
+thousand pardons, if I have sentiments which displease you, at
+least I will never displease you by my actions; consider, that to
+do what I do, requires more friendship and esteem for a husband
+than ever wife had; direct my conduct, have pity on me, and if
+you can still love me."  
+
+Monsieur de Cleves, all the while she spoke, continued leaning
+his head on his hand, almost beside himself, and never thought of
+raising her up.  When she had done speaking, and he cast his eyes
+upon her, and saw her on her knees with her face drowned in
+tears, inimitably beautiful, he was ready to die for grief, and
+taking her up in his arms, "Have you pity on me, Madam," says
+he, "for I deserve it, and pardon me, if in the first moments of
+an affliction so violent as mine, I do not answer as I ought to
+so generous a proceeding as yours; I think you more worthy of
+esteem and admiration than any woman that ever was, but I find
+myself also the most unfortunate of men: you inspired me with
+passion the first moment I saw you, and that passion has never
+decayed; not your coldness, nor even enjoyment itself, has been
+able to extinguish it; it still continues in its first force, and
+yet it has not been in my power to kindle in your breast any
+spark of love for me, and now I find you fear you have an
+inclination for another; and who is he, Madam, this happy man
+that gives you such apprehensions?  How long has he charmed you? 
+What has he done to charm you?  What method has he taken to get
+into your heart?  When I could not gain your affections myself,
+it was some comfort to me to think, that no other could gain
+them; in the meantime, another has effected what I could not, and
+I have at once the jealousy of a husband and lover.  But it is
+impossible for me to retain that of a husband after such a
+proceeding on your part, which is too noble and ingenuous not to
+give me an entire security; it even comforts me as a lover; the
+sincerity you have expressed, and the confidence you have placed
+in me are of infinite value: you have esteem enough for me to
+believe I shall not abuse the confession you have made to me; you
+are in the right, Madam, I will not abuse it, or love you the
+less for it; you make me unhappy by the greatest mark of fidelity
+ever woman gave her husband; but go on, Madam, and inform me who
+he is whom you would avoid."  "I beg you not to ask me,"
+replied she; "I am resolved not to tell you, nor do I think it
+prudent to name him."  "Fear not, Madam," replied Monsieur de
+Cleves, "I know the world too well to be ignorant that a woman's
+having a husband does not hinder people from being in love with
+her; such lovers may be the objects of one's hatred, but we are
+not to complain of it; once again, Madam, I conjure you to tell
+me what I so much desire to know."  "It is in vain to press
+me," replied she, "I have the power to be silent in what I
+think I ought not to tell; the confession I made to you was not
+owing to any weakness, and it required more courage to declare
+such a truth than it would have done to conceal it."
+
+The Duke de Nemours did not lose a word of this conversation, and
+what Madam de Cleves had said gave him no less jealousy than her
+husband; he was so desperately in love with her, that he believed
+all the world was so too; it is true, he had many rivals, yet he
+fancied them still more, and his thoughts wandered to find out
+who it was Madam de Cleves meant: he had often thought he was not
+disagreeable to her, but the grounds of his judgment on this
+occasion appeared so slight, that he could not imagine he had
+raised in her heart a passion violent enough to oblige her to
+have recourse to so extraordinary a remedy; he was so
+transported, that he scarce knew what he saw, and he could not
+pardon Monsieur de Cleves for not having pressed his wife enough
+to tell him the name of the person she concealed from him.
+
+Monsieur de Cleves nevertheless used his utmost endeavours to
+know it; and having urged her very much on the subject; "I
+think," answered she, "that you ought to be satisfied with my
+sincerity; ask me no more about it, and don't give me cause to
+repent of what I have done; content yourself with the assurance
+which I once more give you, that my sentiments have never
+appeared by any of my actions, and that no address hath been made
+to me that could give me offence."  "Ah! Madam," replied
+Monsieur de Cleves on a sudden, "I cannot believe it; I remember
+the confusion you was in when your picture was lost; you have
+given away, Madam, you have given away that picture, which was so
+dear to me, and which I had so just a right to; you have not been
+able to conceal your inclinations, you are in love; it is known;
+your virtue has hitherto saved you from the rest."  "Is it
+possible," cried Madam de Cleves, "you can imagine there was
+any reserve or disguise in a confession like mine, which I was no
+way obliged to?  Take my word, I purchase dearly the confidence I
+desire of you; I conjure you to believe I have not given away my
+picture; it is true, I saw it taken, but I would not seem to see
+it, for fear of subjecting myself to hear such things as no one
+has yet dared to mention to me."  "How do you know then that
+you are loved," said Monsieur de Cleves?  "What mark, what
+proof of it has been given you?"  "Spare me the pain," replied
+she, "of repeating to you circumstances which I am ashamed to
+have observed, and which have convinced me but too much of my own
+weakness."  "You are in the right, Madam," answered he, "I am
+unjust; always refuse me when I ask you such things, and yet
+don't be angry with me for asking them."
+
+Just then several of the servants, who had stayed in the walks,
+came to acquaint Monsieur de Cleves, that a gentleman was arrived
+from the King, with orders for him to be at Paris that evening. 
+Monsieur de Cleves was obliged to go, and had only time to tell
+his wife that he desired her to come to Paris the next day; and
+that he conjured her to believe, that however afflicted he was,
+he had a tenderness and esteem for her, with which she ought to
+be satisfied. 
+
+When he was gone, and Madam de Cleves being alone, considered
+what she had done, she was so frightened at the thought of it,
+she could hardly believe it to be true.  She found she had
+deprived herself of the heart and esteem of her husband, and was
+involved in a labyrinth she should never get out of; she asked
+herself why she had ventured on so dangerous a step, and
+perceived she was engaged in it almost without having designed
+it; the singularity of such a confession, for which she saw no
+precedent, made her fully sensible of her danger.
+
+But on the other hand, when she came to think that this remedy,
+however violent it was, was the only effectual one she could make
+use of against Monsieur de Nemours, she found she had no cause to
+repent, or to believe she had ventured too far; she passed the
+whole night full of doubts, anxiety and fear; but at last her
+spirits grew calm again; she even felt a pleasure arise in her
+mind, from a sense of having given such a proof of fidelity to a
+husband who deserved it so well, who had so great a friendship
+and esteem for her, and had so lately manifested it by the manner
+in which he received the confession she had made him.
+
+In the meantime Monsieur de Nemours was gone away from the place,
+in which he had overheard a conversation which so sensibly
+affected him, and was got deep into the forest; what Madam de
+Cleves said of her picture had revived him, since it was certain
+from thence that he was the person she had an inclination for; at
+first he gave a leap of joy, but his raptures were at an end as
+soon as he began to reflect, that the same thing that convinced
+him he had touched the heart of Madam de Cleves, ought to
+convince him also that he should never receive any marks of it,
+and that it would be impossible to engage a lady who had recourse
+to so extraordinary a remedy; and yet he could not but be
+sensibly pleased to have reduced her to that extremity; he
+thought it glorious for him to have gained the affections of a
+woman so different from the rest of her sex; in a word, he
+thought himself very happy and very unhappy at the same time.  He
+was benighted in the forest, and was very much put to it to find
+his way again to his sister's the Duchess of Mercoeur; he arrived
+there at break of day, and was extremely at a loss what account
+to give of his absence, but he made out the matter as well as he
+could, and returned that very day to Paris with the Viscount.
+
+The Duke was so taken up with his passion, and so surprised at
+the conversation he had heard, that he fell into an indiscretion
+very common, which is, to speak one's own particular sentiments
+in general terms, and to relate one's proper adventures under
+borrowed names.  As they were travelling he began to talk of
+love, and exaggerated the pleasure of being in love with a person
+that deserved it; he spoke of the fantastical effects of this
+passion, and at last not being able to contain within himself the
+admiration he was in at the action of Madam de Cleves, he related
+it to the Viscount without naming the person, or owning he had
+any share in it; but he told it with so much warmth and surprise,
+that the Viscount easily suspected the story concerned himself. 
+The Viscount urged him very much to confess it, and told him he
+had known a great while that he was violently in love, and that
+it was unjust in him to show a distrust of a man who had
+committed to him a secret on which his life depended.  The Duke
+de Nemours was too much in love to own it, and had always
+concealed it from the Viscount, though he valued him the most of
+any man at Court; he answered that one of his friends had told
+him this adventure, and made him promise not to speak of it; and
+he also conjured the Viscount to keep the secret: the Viscount
+assured him he would say nothing of it but notwithstanding
+Monsieur de Nemours repented that he had told him so much.
+
+In the meantime Monsieur de Cleves was gone to the King, with a
+heart full of sorrow and affliction.  Never had husband so
+violent a passion for his wife, or so great an esteem; what she
+had told him did not take away his esteem of her, but made it of
+a different nature from that he had had before; what chiefly
+employed his thoughts, was a desire to guess who it was that had
+found out the secret to win her heart; the Duke de Nemours was
+the first person he thought of on this occasion, as being the
+handsomest man at Court; and the Chevalier de Guise, and the
+Mareschal de St. Andre occurred next, as two persons who had made
+it their endeavour to get her love, and who were still very
+assiduous in courting her, so that he was fully persuaded it must
+be one of the three.  He arrived at the Louvre, and the King
+carried him into his closet to inform him he had made choice of
+him to conduct Madame into Spain, and that he believed nobody
+could acquit himself better of that charge, nor that any lady
+would do France greater honour than Madam de Cleves.  Monsieur de
+Cleves received the honour the King had done him by this choice
+with the respect he ought, and he considered it also as what
+would take his wife from Court, without leaving room to suspect
+any change in her conduct; but the embarrassment he was under
+required a speedier remedy than that journey, which was to be
+deferred a great while, could afford; he immediately wrote to
+Madam de Cleves to acquaint her with what the King had told him,
+and gave her to understand he absolutely expected she should
+return to Paris.  She returned according to his orders, and when
+they met, they found one another overwhelmed with melancholy.
+
+Monsieur de Cleves spoke to her, as a man of the greatest honour
+in the world, and the best deserving the confidence she had
+reposed in him; "I am not alarmed as to your conduct," said
+he,"you have more strength and virtue than you imagine; I am not
+alarmed with fears of what may happen hereafter; what troubles me
+is  that I see you have those sentiments for another which you
+want for me."  "I don't know what to answer you," said she,
+"I die with shame when I speak of this subject spare me, I
+conjure you, such cruel conversations; regulate my conduct, and
+never let me see anybody; this is all I desire of you; but take
+it not ill of me, if I speak no more of a thing which makes me
+appear so little worthy of you, and which I think so unbecoming
+me."  "You are in the right, Madam;" replied he, "I abuse
+your goodness and your confidence in me; but have some compassion
+also on the condition you have brought me to, and think that
+whatever you have told me, you conceal from me a name, which
+creates in me a curiosity I cannot live without satisfying; and
+yet I ask you not to satisfy it; I cannot, however, forbear
+telling you, that I believe the man I am to envy is the Mareschal
+de St. Andre, the Duke de Nemours, or the Chevalier de Guise." 
+"I shall make you no answer," says she blushing, "nor give you
+any ground from what I say, either to lessen or strengthen your
+suspicions; but if you endeavour to inform yourself by observing
+me, you will throw me into a confusion all the world will take
+notice of, for God's sake," continued she, "allow me under
+pretence of an indisposition to see nobody."  "No, Madam,"
+said he, "it will quickly be discovered to be a feigned
+business; and besides, I am unwilling to trust you to anything
+but yourself; my heart tells me this is the best way I can take,
+and my reason tells me so also, considering the temper of mind
+you are in, I cannot put a greater restraint upon you than by
+leaving you to your liberty."
+
+Monsieur de Cleves was not mistaken; the confidence he showed he
+had in his wife, fortified her the more against Monsieur de
+Nemours, and made her take more severe resolutions than any
+restraint could have brought her to.  She went to wait on the
+Queen-Dauphin at the Louvre as she used to do, but avoided the
+presence and eyes of Monsieur de Nemours with so much care, that
+she deprived him of almost all the joy he had in thinking she
+loved him; he saw nothing in her actions but what seemed to show
+the contrary; he scarcely knew if what he had heard was not a
+dream, so very improbable it seemed to him; the only thing which
+assured him that he was not mistaken, was Madam de Cleves's
+extreme melancholy, which appeared, whatever pains she took to
+hide it; and perhaps kind words and looks would not have
+increased the Duke of Nemours's love so much as this severe
+conduct did.
+
+One evening, as Monsieur and Madam de Cleves were at the Queen's
+apartment, it was said there was a report that the King would
+name another great lord to wait on Madame into Spain.  Monsieur
+de Cleves had his eye fixed on his wife, when it was further
+said, the Chevalier de Guise, or the Mareschal de St. Andre, was
+the person; he observed she was not at all moved at either of
+those names, nor the discourse of their going along with her;
+this made him believe, it was not either of them whose presence
+she feared.  In order to clear up his suspicions, he went into
+the Queen's closet, where the King then was, and after having
+stayed there some time came back to his wife, and whispered her,
+that he had just heard the Duke de Nemours was the person
+designed to go along with them to Spain.
+
+The name of the Duke de Nemours, and the thought of being exposed
+to see him every day, during a very long journey, in her
+husband's presence, so affected Madam de Cleves, that she could
+not conceal her trouble: and being willing to give other reasons
+for it, "No choice," says she, "could have been made more
+disagreeable for you; he will share all honours with you, and I
+think you ought to endeavour to get some other chosen."  "It is
+not honour, Madam," replied Monsieur de Cleves, "that makes you
+apprehensive of the Duke de Nemours's going with me, the
+uneasiness you are in proceeds from another cause; and from this
+uneasiness of yours I learn, that which I should have discovered
+in another woman, by the joy she would have expressed on such an
+occasion; but be not afraid; what I have told you is not true, it
+was an invention of mine to assure myself of a thing which I
+already believed but too much."
+
+Having said this, he went out, being unwilling to increase, by
+his presence, the concern he saw his wife in.
+
+The Duke de Nemours came in that instant, and presently observed
+Madam de Cleves's condition; he came up to her, and told her
+softly, he had that respect for her, he durst not ask what it was
+made her more pensive than usual.  The voice of the Duke de
+Nemours brought her to herself again, and looking at him, without
+having heard what he had said to her, full of her own thoughts,
+and afraid lest her husband should see him with her, "For God's
+sake," says she, "leave me to myself in quiet."  "Alas,
+Madam," answered he, "I disturb you too little; what is it you
+can complain of?  I dare not speak to you, I dare not look upon
+you, I tremble whenever I approach you.  How have I drawn upon
+myself what you have said to me, and why do you show me that I am
+in part the cause of the trouble I see you in?"  Madam de Cleves
+was very sorry to have given the Duke an opportunity of
+explaining himself more clearly than ever he had done before; she
+left him without making any answer, and went home with her mind
+more agitated than ever.  Her husband perceived her concern was
+increased, and that she was afraid he would speak to her of what
+had passed, and followed her into her closet; "Do not shun me,
+Madam," says he, "I will say nothing to you that shall
+displease you; I ask pardon for the surprise I gave you a while
+ago; I am sufficiently punished by what I have learnt from it;
+the Duke de Nemours was of all men he whom I most feared; I see
+the danger you are in; command yourself for your own sake, and,
+if it is possible, for mine; I do not ask this of you as a
+husband, but as a man whose happiness wholly depends on you, and
+who loves you more violently and more tenderly than he whom your
+heart prefers to me."  Monsieur de Cleves was melted upon
+speaking these words, and could scarce make an end of them; his
+wife was so moved, she burst into tears, and embraced him with a
+tenderness and sorrow that put him into a condition not very
+different from her own; they continued silent a while, and parted
+without having the power to speak to one another.
+
+All things were ready for the marriage of Madame, and the Duke of
+Alva was arrived to espouse her; he was received with all the
+ceremony and magnificence that could be displayed on such an
+occasion; the King sent to meet him the Prince of Conde, the
+Cardinals of Loraine and Guise, the Dukes of Loraine and Ferrara,
+d'Aumale, de Bouillon, de Guise, and de Nemours; they had a great
+number of gentlemen, and a great many pages in livery; the King
+himself, attended with two hundred gentlemen, and the Constable
+at their head, received the Duke of Alva at the first gate of the
+Louvre; the Duke would have kneeled down, but the King refused
+it, and made him walk by his side to the Queen's apartment, and
+to Madame's, to whom the Duke of Alva had brought a magnificent
+present from his master; he went thence to the apartment of Madam
+Margaret the King's sister, to compliment her on the part of the
+Duke of Savoy, and to assure her he would arrive in a few days;
+there were great assemblies at the Louvre, the show the Duke of
+Alva, and the Prince of Orange who accompanied him, the beauties
+of the Court.
+
+Madam de Cleves could not dispense with going to these
+assemblies, however desirous she was to be absent, for fear of
+disobliging her husband, who absolutely commanded her to be
+there; and what yet more induced her to it, was the absence of
+the Duke de Nemours; he was gone to meet the Duke of Savoy, and
+after the arrival of that Prince, he was obliged to be almost
+always with him, to assist him in everything relating to the
+ceremonies of the nuptials; for this reason Madam de Cleves did
+not meet him so often as she used to do, which gave her some sort
+of ease.
+
+The Viscount de Chartres had not forgot the conversation he had
+had with the Duke de Nemours: it still ran in his mind that the
+adventure the Duke had related to him was his own; and he
+observed him so carefully that it is probable he would have
+unravelled the business, if the arrival of the Duke of Alva and
+of the Duke of Savoy had not made such an alteration in the
+Court, and filled it with so much business, as left no
+opportunities for a discovery of that nature; the desire he had
+to get some information about it, or rather the natural
+disposition one has to relate all one knows to those one loves,
+made him acquaint Madam de Martigues with the extraordinary
+action of that person who had confessed to her husband the
+passion she had for another; he assured her the Duke de Nemours
+was the man who had inspired so violent a love, and begged her
+assistance in observing him.  Madam de Martigues was glad to hear
+what the Viscount told her, and the curiosity she had always
+observed in the Queen-Dauphin for what concerned the Duke de
+Nemours made her yet more desirous to search into the bottom of
+the affair.
+
+A few days before that which was fixed for the ceremony of the
+marriage, the Queen-Dauphin entertained at supper the King her
+father-in-law, and the Duchess of Valentinois.  Madam de Cleves,
+who had been busy in dressing herself, went to the Louvre later
+than ordinary; as she was going, she met a gentleman that was
+coming from the Queen-Dauphin to fetch her; as soon as she
+entered the room, that Princess, who was sitting upon her bed,
+told her aloud, that she had expected her with great impatience. 
+"I believe, Madam," answered she, "that I am not obliged to
+you for it, and that your impatience was caused by something
+else, and not your desire to see me."  "You are in the right,"
+answered the Queen-Dauphin, "but, nevertheless, you are obliged
+to me; for I'll tell you an adventure, which I am sure you'll be
+glad to know."
+
+Madam de Cleves kneeled at her bedside, and, very luckily for
+her, with her face from the light:  "You know," said the Queen,
+"how desirous we have been to find out what had caused so great
+a change in the Duke de Nemours; I believe I know it, and it is
+what will surprise you; he is desperately in love with, and as
+much beloved by, one of the finest ladies of the Court."  It is
+easy to imagine the grief Madam de Cleves felt upon hearing these
+words, which she could not apply to herself, since she thought
+nobody knew anything of her passion for the Duke; "I see nothing
+extraordinary in that," replied she, "considering how young and
+handsome a man the Duke de Nemours is."  "No," replied the
+Queen-Dauphin, "there is nothing extraordinary in it; but what
+will surprise you is, that this lady, who is in love with the
+Duke de Nemours, has never given him any mark of it, and that the
+fear she was in lest she should not always be mistress of her
+passion, has made her confess it to her husband, that he may take
+her away from Court; and it is the Duke de Nemours himself who
+has related what I tell you."
+
+If Madam de Cleves was grieved at first through the thought that
+she had no concern in this adventure, the Queen-Dauphin's last
+words threw her into an agony, by making it certain she had too
+much in it; she could not answer, but continued leaning her head
+on the bed; meanwhile the Queen went on, and was so intent on
+what she was saying, that she took no notice of her
+embarrassment.  When Madam de Cleves was a little come to
+herself, "This story, Madam," says she, "does not seem very
+probable to me, and I should be glad to know who told it you." 
+"It was Madam de Martigues," replied the Queen-Dauphin, "and
+she heard it from the Viscount de Chartres; you know the Viscount
+is in love with her; he entrusted this matter to her as a secret,
+and he was told it by the Duke de Nemours himself; it is true the
+Duke did not tell the lady's name, nor acknowledge that he was
+the person she was in love with, but the Viscount makes no manner
+of question of it."  When the Queen-Dauphin had done speaking,
+somebody came up to the bed; Madam de Cleves was so placed that
+she could not see who it was, but she was presently convinced,
+when the Queen-Dauphin cried out with an air of gaiety and
+surprise, "Here he is himself, I'll ask him what there is in
+it."  Madam de Cleves knew very well it was the Duke de Nemours,
+without turning herself, as it really was; upon which she went up
+hastily to the Queen-Dauphin, and told her softly, that she ought
+to be cautious of speaking to him of this adventure, which he had
+entrusted to the Viscount de Chartres as a secret, and that it
+was a thing which might create a quarrel between them.  "You are
+too wise," said the Queen-Dauphin smiling, and turned to the
+Duke de Nemours.  He was dressed for the evening assembly, and
+taking up the discourse with that grace which was natural to him,
+"I believe, Madam," says he, "I may venture to think you were
+speaking of me as I came in, that you had a design to ask me
+something, and that Madam de Cleves is against it."  "It is
+true," replied the Queen-Dauphin, "but I shall not be so
+complaisant to her on this occasion as I was used to be; I would
+know of you, whether a story I have been told is true, and
+whether you are not the person who is in love with, and beloved
+by a lady of the Court, who endeavours to conceal her passion
+from you, and has confessed it to her husband."
+
+The concern and confusion Madam de Cleves was in was above all
+that can be imagined, and if death itself could have drawn her
+out of this condition, she would have gladly embraced it; but the
+Duke de Nemours was yet more embarrassed if possible: the
+discourse of the Queen-Dauphin, by whom he had reason to believe
+he was not hated, in the presence of Madam de Cleves, who was
+confided in by her more than anybody of the Court, and who
+confided more in her, threw him into such confusion and
+extravagance of thought, that it was impossible for him to be
+master of his countenance: the concern he saw Madam de Cleves in
+through his fault, and the thought of having given her just cause
+to hate him, so shocked him he could not speak a word.  The
+Queen-Dauphin, seeing how thunderstruck she was, "Look upon him,
+look upon him," said she to Madam de Cleves, "and judge if this
+adventure be not his own."
+
+In the meantime the Duke de Nemours, finding of what importance
+it was to him to extricate himself out of so dangerous a
+difficulty, recovered himself from his first surprise, and became
+at once master of his wit and looks.  "I acknowledge, Madam,"
+said he, "it is impossible to be more surprised and concerned
+than I was at the treachery of the Viscount de Chartres, in
+relating an adventure of a friend of mine, which I had in
+confidence imparted to him.  I know how to be revenged of him,"
+continued he, smiling with a calm air, which removed the
+suspicions the Queen-Dauphin had entertained of him:  "He has
+entrusted me with things of no very small importance; but I don't
+know, Madam, why you do me the honour to make me a party in this
+affair.  The Viscount can't say I am concerned in it, for I told
+him the contrary; I may very well be taken to be a man in love,
+but I cannot believe, Madam, you will think me of the number of
+those who are loved again."  The Duke was glad to say anything
+to the Queen-Dauphin, which alluded to the inclination he had
+expressed for her formerly, in order to divert her thoughts from
+the subject in question.  She imagined she understood well enough
+the drift of what he said, but without making any answer to it,
+she continued to rally him upon the embarrassment he was in.  "I
+was concerned, Madam," said he, "for the interest of my friend,
+and on account of the just reproaches he might make me for having
+told a secret which is dearer to him than life.  He has
+nevertheless entrusted me but with one half of it, and has not
+told me the name of the person he loves; all I know is, that he's
+the most deeply in love of any man in the world, and has the most
+reason to complain."  "Do you think he has reason to
+complain," replied the Queen-Dauphin, "when he is loved
+again?"  "Do you believe he is, Madam," replied he, "and that
+a person who had a real passion could discover it to her husband? 
+That lady, doubtless, is not acquainted with love, and has
+mistaken for it a slight acknowledgment of the fondness her lover
+had for her.  My friend can't flatter himself with the lent
+hopes; but, unfortunate as he is, he thinks himself happy at
+least in having made her afraid of falling in love with him, and
+he would not change his condition for that of the happiest lover
+in the world."  "Your friend has a passion very easy to be
+satisfied," said the Queen-Dauphin, "and I begin to believe it
+is not yourself you are speaking of; I am almost," continued
+she, "of the opinion of Madam de Cleves, who maintains that this
+story cannot be true."  "I don't really believe it can be
+true," answered Madam de Cleves, who had been silent hitherto;
+"and though it were possible to be true, how should it have been
+known?  It is very unlikely that a woman, capable of so
+extraordinary a resolution, would have the weakness to publish
+it; and surely her husband would not have told it neither, or he
+must be a husband very unworthy to have been dealt with in so
+generous a manner."  The Duke de Nemours, who perceived the
+suspicions Madam de Cleves had of her husband, was glad to
+confirm her in them, knowing he was the most formidable rival he
+had to overcome.  "Jealousy," said he, "and a curiosity
+perhaps of knowing more than a wife has thought fit to discover,
+may make a husband do a great many imprudent things."
+
+Madam de Cleves was put to the last proof of her power and
+courage, and not being able to endure the conversation any
+longer, she was going to say she was not well, when by good
+fortune for her the Duchess of Valentinois came in, and told the
+Queen-Dauphin that the King was just coming; the Queen-Dauphin
+went into the closet to dress herself, and the Duke de Nemours
+came up to Madam de Cleves as she was following her.  "I would
+give my life, Madam," said he, "to have a moment's conversation
+with you; but though I have a world of important things to say to
+you, I think nothing is more so, than to entreat you to believe,
+that if I have said anything in which the Queen-Dauphin may seem
+concerned, I did it for reasons which do not relate to her."
+Madam de Cleves pretended not to hear him, and left him without
+giving him a look, and went towards the King, who was just come
+in.  As there were abundance of people there, she trod upon her
+gown, and made a false step, which served her as an excuse to go
+out of a place she had not the power to stay in, and so
+pretending to have received some hurt she went home.
+
+Monsieur de Cleves came to the Louvre, and was surprised not to
+find his wife there; they told him of the accident that had
+befallen her, and he went immediately home to enquire after her;
+he found her in bed, and perceived her hurt was not considerable. 
+When he had been some time with her, he found her so excessive
+melancholy that he was surprised at it; "What ails you, Madam?"
+
+says he; "you seem to have some other grief than that which you
+complain of."  "I feel the most sensible grief I can ever
+experience," answered she; "what use have you made of that
+extraordinary, or rather foolish confidence which I placed in
+you?  Did not I deserve to have my secret kept? and though I had
+not deserved it, did not your own interest engage you to it? 
+Should your curiosity to know a name it was not reasonable for me
+to tell you have obliged you to make a confidant to assist you in
+the discovery?  Nothing but that curiosity could have made you
+guilty of so cruel an indiscretion; the consequences of it are as
+bad as they possibly can be.  This adventure is known, and I have
+been told it by those who are not aware that I am principally
+concerned in it."  "What do you say, Madam?" answered he;
+"you accuse me of having told what passed between you and me,
+and you inform me that the thing is known; I don't go about to
+clear myself from this charge, you can't think me guilty of it;
+without doubt you have applied to yourself what was told you of
+some other."  "Ah! Sir," replied she, "the world has not an
+adventure like mine, there is not another woman capable of such a
+thing.  The story I have heard could not have been invented by
+chance; nobody could imagine any like it; an action of this
+nature never entered any thoughts but mine.  The Queen-Dauphin
+has just told me the story; she had it from the Viscount de
+Chartres, and the Viscount from the Duke de Nemours."  "The
+Duke de Nemours!" cried Monsieur de Cleves, like a man
+transported and desperate:  "How! does the Duke de Nemours know
+that you are in love with him, and that I am acquainted with
+it?"  "You are always for singling out the Duke de Nemours
+rather than any other," replied she; "I have told you I will
+never answer you concerning your suspicions: I am ignorant
+whether the Duke de Nemours knows the part I have in this
+adventure, and that which you have ascribed to him; but he told
+it to the Viscount de Chartres, and said he had it from one of
+his friends, who did not name the lady: this friend of the Duke
+de Nemours must needs be one of yours, whom you entrusted the
+secret to, in order to clear up your suspicions."  "Can one
+have a friend in the world, in whom one would repose such a
+confidence," replied Monsieur de Cleves, "and would a man clear
+his suspicions at the price of informing another with what one
+would wish to conceal from oneself?  Think rather, Madam, to whom
+you have spoken; it is more probable this secret should have
+escaped from you than from me; you was not able alone to support
+the trouble you found yourself in, and you endeavoured to comfort
+yourself by complaining to some confidant who has betrayed you."
+
+"Do not wholly destroy me," cried she, "and be not so
+hard-hearted as to accuse me of a fault you have committed
+yourself: can you suspect me of it? and do you think, because I
+was capable of informing you of this matter, I was therefore
+capable of informing another?"
+
+The confession which Madam de Cleves had made to her husband was
+so great a mark of her sincerity, and she so strongly denied that
+she had entrusted it to any other, that Monsieur de Cleves did
+not know what to think.  On the other hand he was sure he had
+never said anything of it; it was a thing that could not have
+been guessed, and yet it was known; it must therefore come from
+one of them two; but what grieved him most was to know that this
+secret was in the hands of somebody else, and that in all
+probability it would be soon divulged.
+
+Madam de Cleves thought much after the same manner; she found it
+equally impossible that her husband should, or should not have
+spoken of it.  What the Duke de Nemours had said to her, that
+curiosity might make a husband do indiscreet things, seemed so
+justly applicable to Monsieur de Cleves's condition, that she
+could not think he said it by chance, and the probability of this
+made her conclude that Monsieur de Cleves had abused the
+confidence she had placed in him.  They were so taken up, the one
+and the other, with their respective thoughts, that they
+continued silent a great while; and when they broke from this
+silence, they only repeated the same things they had already said
+very often; their hearts and affections grew more and more
+estranged from each other.
+
+It is easy to imagine how they passed the night; Monsieur de
+Cleves could no longer sustain the misfortune of seeing a woman
+whom he adored in love with another; he grew quite heartless, and
+thought he had reason to be so in an affair where his honour and
+reputation were so deeply wounded: he knew not what to think of
+his wife, and was at a loss what conduct he should prescribe to
+her, or what he should follow himself; he saw nothing on all
+sides but precipices and rocks; at last, after having been long
+tossed to and fro in suspense, he considered he was soon to set
+out for Spain, and resolved to do nothing which might increase
+the suspicion or knowledge of his unfortunate condition.  He went
+to his wife, and told her that what they had to do was not to
+debate between themselves who had discovered the secret; but to
+make it appear that the story which was got abroad was a business
+in which she had no concern; that it depended upon her to
+convince the Duke de Nemours and others of it; that she had
+nothing to do but to behave herself to him with that coldness and
+reserve which she ought to have for a man who professed love to
+her; that by this proceeding she would easily remove the opinion
+he entertained of her being in love with him; and therefore she
+needed not to trouble herself as to what he might hitherto have
+thought, since if for the future she discovered no weakness, his
+former thoughts would vanish of themselves; and that especially
+she ought to frequent the Louvre and the assemblies as usual.
+
+Having said this, Monsieur de Cleves left his wife without
+waiting her answer; she thought what he said very reasonable, and
+the resentment she had against the Duke de Nemours made her
+believe she should be able to comply with it with a great deal of
+ease; but it seemed a hard task to her to appear at the marriage
+with that freedom and tranquillity of spirit as the occasion
+required.  Nevertheless as she was to carry the Queen-Dauphin's
+train, and had been distinguished with that honour in preference
+to a great many other Princesses, it was impossible to excuse
+herself from it without making a great deal of noise and putting
+people upon enquiring into the reasons of it.  She resolved
+therefore to do her utmost, and employed the rest of the day in
+preparing herself for it, and in endeavouring to forget the
+thoughts that gave her so much uneasiness; and to this purpose
+she locked herself up in her closet.  Of all her griefs the most
+violent was that she had reason to complain of the Duke de
+Nemours, and could find no excuse to urge in his favour; she
+could not doubt but he had related this adventure to the Viscount
+de Chartres; he had owned it himself, nor could she any more
+doubt from his manner of speaking of it, but that he knew the
+adventure related to her; how could she excuse so great an
+imprudence? and what was become of that extreme discretion which
+she had so much admired in this Prince?  "He was discreet,"
+said she, "while he was unhappy; but the thought of being happy,
+though on uncertain grounds, has put an end to his discretion; he
+could not consider that he was beloved, without desiring to have
+it known; he said everything he could say; I never acknowledged
+it was he I was in love with; he suspected it, and has declared
+his suspicions; if he had been sure of it, he might have acted as
+he has; I was to blame for thinking him a man capable of
+concealing what flattered his vanity; and yet it is for this man,
+whom I thought so different from other men, that I am become like
+other women, who was so unlike them before.  I have lost the
+heart and esteem of a husband who ought to have been my
+happiness; I shall soon be looked upon by all the world as a
+person led away by an idle and violent passion; he for whom I
+entertain this passion is no longer ignorant of it; and it was to
+avoid these misfortunes that I hazarded my quiet, and even my
+life."  These sad reflections were followed by a torrent of
+tears; but however great her grief was, she plainly perceived she
+should be able to support it, were she but satisfied in the Duke
+de Nemours.
+
+The Duke was no less uneasy than she; the indiscretion he had
+been guilty of in telling what he did to the Viscount de
+Chartres, and the mischievous consequences of it, vexed him to
+the heart; he could not represent to himself the affliction and
+sorrow he had seen Madam de Cleves in without being pierced with
+anguish; he was inconsolable for having said things to her about
+this adventure, which, though gallant enough in themselves,
+seemed on this occasion too gross and impolite, since they gave
+Madam de Cleves to understand he was not ignorant that she was
+the woman who had that violent passion, and that he was the
+object of it.  It was before the utmost of his wishes to have a
+conversation with her, but now he found he ought rather to fear
+than desire it.  "What should I say to her!" says he; "should
+I go to discover further to her what I have made her too sensible
+of already!  Shall I tell how I know she loves me; I, who have
+never dared to say I loved her?  Shall I begin with speaking
+openly of my passion, that she may see my hopes have inspired me
+with boldness?  Can I even think of approaching her, and of
+giving her the trouble to endure my sight?  Which way could I
+justify myself?  I have no excuse, I am unworthy of the least
+regard from Madam de Cleves, and I even despair of her ever
+looking upon me: I have given her by my own fault better means of
+defending herself against me than any she was searching for, and
+perhaps searching for to no purpose.  I lose by my imprudence the
+glory and happiness of being loved by the most beautiful and
+deserving lady in the world; but if I had lost this happiness,
+without involving her in the most extreme grief and sufferings at
+the same time, I should have had some comfort; for at this moment
+I am more sensible of the harm I have done her, than of that I
+have done myself in forfeiting her favour."
+
+The Duke de Nemours continued turning the same thoughts over and
+over, and tormenting himself a great while; the desire he had to
+speak to Madam de Cleves came constantly into his mind; he
+thought of the means to do it; he thought of writing to her; but
+at last he found, considering the fault he had committed and the
+temper she was in, his best way was to show her a profound
+respect by his affliction and his silence, to let her see he
+durst not present himself before her, and to wait for what time,
+chance, and the inclination she had for him might produce to his
+advantage.  He resolved also not to reproach the Viscount de
+Chartres for his unfaithfulness, for fear of confirming his
+suspicions.
+
+The preparations for the espousals and marriage of Madame on the
+next day so entirely took up the thoughts of the Court, that
+Madam de Cleves and the Duke de Nemours easily concealed from the
+public their grief and uneasiness.  The Queen-Dauphin spoke but
+slightly to Madam de Cleves of the conversation they had had with
+the Duke de Nemours; and Monsieur de Cleves industriously shunned
+speaking to his wife of what was past; so that she did not find
+herself under so much embarrassment as she had imagined.
+
+The espousals were solemnised at the Louvre; and after the feast
+and ball all the Royal family went to lie at the Bishop's Palace,
+according to custom.  In the morning, the Duke of Alva, who
+always had appeared very plainly dressed, put on a habit of cloth
+of gold, mixed with flame-colour, yellow and black, all covered
+over with jewels, and wore a close crown on his head.  The Prince
+of Orange very richly dressed also, with his liveries, and all
+the Spaniards with theirs, came to attend the Duke of Alva from
+the Hotel de Villeroy where he lodged, and set out, marching four
+by four, till they came to the Bishop's Palace.  As soon as he
+was arrived, they went in order to the Church; the King led
+Madame, who wore also a close crown, her train being borne by
+Mademoiselles de Montpensier and Longueville; the Queen came
+next, but without a crown; after her followed the Queen-Dauphin,
+Madame the King's sister, the Duchess of Loraine, and the Queen
+of Navarre, their trains being home by the Princesses; the Queens
+and the Princesses were all of them attended with their maids of
+honour, who were richly dressed in the same colour which they
+wore themselves; so that it was known by the colour of their
+habits whose maids they were: they mounted the place that was
+prepared in the Church, and there the marriage ceremonies were
+performed; they returned afterwards to dine at the Bishop's
+Palace, and went from thence about five o'clock to the Palace
+where the feast was, and where the Parliament, the Sovereign
+Courts, and the Corporation of the City were desired to assist. 
+The King, the Queens, the Princes and Princesses sat at the
+marble table in the great hall of the Palace; the Duke of Alva
+sat near the new Queen of Spain, below the steps of the marble
+table, and at the King's right hand was a table for the
+ambassadors, the archbishops, and the Knights of the Order, and
+on the other side one for the Parliament.
+
+The Duke of Guise, dressed in a robe of cloth of gold frieze,
+served the King as Great Chamberlain; the Prince of Conde as
+Steward of the Household, and the Duke de Nemours as Cup-bearer. 
+After the tables were removed the ball began, and was interrupted
+by interludes and a great deal of extraordinary machinery; then
+the ball was resumed, and after midnight the King and the whole
+Court returned to the Louvre.  However full of grief Madam de
+Cleves was, she appeared in the eyes of all beholders, and
+particularly in those of the Duke de Nemours, incomparably
+beautiful.  He durst not speak to her, though the hurry of the
+ceremony gave him frequent opportunities; but he expressed so
+much sorrow and so respectful a fear of approaching her, that she
+no longer thought him to blame, though he had said nothing in his
+justification; his conduct was the same the following days, and
+wrought the same effect on the heart of Madam de Cleves.
+
+At last the day of the tournament came; the Queens were placed in
+the galleries that were prepared for them; the four champions
+appeared at the end of the lists with a number of horses and
+liveries, the most magnificent sight that ever was seen in
+France.
+
+The King's colours were white and black, which he always wore in
+honour of the Duchess of Valentinois, who was a widow.  The Duke
+of Ferrara and his retinue had yellow and red.  Monsieur de
+Guise's carnation and white.  It was not known at first for what
+reason he wore those colours, but it was soon remembered that
+they were the colours of a beautiful young lady whom he had been
+in love with, while she was a maid, and whom he yet loved though
+he durst not show it.  The Duke de Nemours had yellow and black;
+why he had them could not be found out: Madam de Cleves only knew
+the reason of it; she remembered to have said before him she
+loved yellow, and that she was sorry her complexion did not suit
+that colour.  As for the Duke, he thought he might take that
+colour without any indiscretion, since not being worn by Madam de
+Cleves it could not be suspected to be hers.
+
+The four champions showed the greatest address that can be
+imagined; though the King was the best horseman in his kingdom,
+it was hard to say which of them most excelled.  The Duke de
+Nemours had a grace in all his actions which might have inclined
+to his favour persons less interested than Madam de Cleves.  She
+no sooner saw him appear at the end of the lists, but her heart
+felt uncommon emotions, and every course he made she could scarce
+hide her joy when he had successfully finished his career.
+
+In the evening, when all was almost over, and the company ready
+to break up, so it was for the misfortune of the State, that the
+King would needs break another lance; he sent orders to the Count
+de Montgomery, who was a very dextrous combatant, to appear in
+the lists.  The Count begged the King to excuse him, and alleged
+all the reasons for it he could think of; but the King, almost
+angry, sent him word he absolutely commanded him to do it.  The
+Queen conjured the King not to run any more, told him he had
+performed so well that he ought to be satisfied, and desired him
+to go with her to her apartments; he made answer, it was for her
+sake that he would run again; and entered the barrier; she sent
+the Duke of Savoy to him to entreat him a second time to return,
+but to no purpose; he ran; the lances were broke, and a splinter
+of the Count de Montgomery's lance hit the King's eye, and stuck
+there.  The King fell; his gentlemen and Monsieur de Montmorency,
+who was one of the Mareschals of the field, ran to him; they were
+astonished to see him wounded, but the King was not at all
+disheartened; he said, that it was but a slight hurt, and that he
+forgave the Count de Montgomery.  One may imagine what sorrow and
+affliction so fatal an accident occasioned on a day set apart to
+mirth and joy.  The King was carried to bed, and the surgeons
+having examined his wound found it very considerable.  The
+Constable immediately called to mind the prediction which had
+been told the King, that he should be killed in single fight; and
+he made no doubt but the prediction would be now accomplished.  
+The King of Spain, who was then at Brussels, being advertised of
+this accident, sent his physician, who was a man of great
+reputation, but that physician judged the King past hope.
+
+A Court so divided, and filled with so many opposite interests,
+could not but be in great agitation on the breaking out of so
+grand an event; nevertheless all things were kept quiet, and
+nothing was seen but a general anxiety for the King's health. 
+The Queens, the Princes and Princesses hardly ever went out of
+his anti-chamber.
+
+Madam de Cleves, knowing that she was obliged to be there, that
+she should see there the Duke de Nemours, and that she could not
+conceal from her husband the disorder she should be in upon
+seeing him, and being sensible also that the mere presence of
+that Prince would justify him in her eyes and destroy all her
+resolutions, thought proper to feign herself ill.  The Court was
+too busy to give attention to her conduct, or to enquire whether
+her illness was real or counterfeit; her husband alone was able
+to come at the truth of the matter, but she was not at all averse
+to his knowing it.  Thus she continued at home, altogether
+heedless of the great change that was soon expected, and full of
+her own thoughts, which she was at full liberty to give herself
+up to.  Everyone went to Court to enquire after the King's
+health, and Monsieur de Cleves came home at certain times to give
+her an account of it; he behaved himself to her in the same
+manner he used to do, except when they were alone, and then there
+appeared something of coldness and reserve: he had not spoke to
+her again concerning what had passed, nor had she power, nor did
+she think it convenient to resume the discourse of it.
+
+The Duke de Nemours, who had waited for an opportunity of
+speaking to Madam de Cleves, was surprised and afflicted not to
+have had so much as the pleasure to see her.  The King's illness
+increased so much, that the seventh day he was given over by the
+physicians; he received the news of the certainty of his death
+with an uncommon firmness of mind; which was the more to be
+admired, considering that he lost his life by so unfortunate an
+accident, that he died in the flower of his age, happy, adored by
+his people, and beloved by a mistress he was desperately in love
+with.  The evening before his death he caused Madame his sister
+to be married to the Duke of Savoy without ceremony.  One may
+judge what condition the Duchess of Valentinois was in; the Queen
+would not permit her to see the King, but sent to demand of her
+the King's signets, and the jewels of the crown which she had in
+her custody.  The Duchess enquired if the King was dead, and
+being answered, "No"; "I have then as yet no other matter,"
+said she, "and nobody can oblige me to restore what he has
+trusted in my hands."  As soon as the King expired at Chateau de
+Toumelles, the Duke of Ferrara, the Duke of Guise, and the Duke
+de Nemours conducted the Queen-Mother, the New King and the
+Queen-Consort to the Louvre.  The Duke de Nemours led the
+Queen-Mother.  As they began to march, she stepped back a little,
+and told the Queen her daughter-in-law, it was her place to go
+first; but it was easy to see, that there was more of spleen than
+decorum in this compliment.
+
+
+IV
+
+The Queen-mother was now wholly governed by the Cardinal of
+Loraine; the Viscount de Chartres had no interest with her, and
+the passion he had for Madam de Martigues and for liberty
+hindered him from feeling this loss as it deserved to be felt. 
+The Cardinal, during the ten days' illness of the King, was at
+leisure to form his designs, and lead the Queen into resolutions
+agreeable to what he had projected; so that the King was no
+sooner dead but the Queen ordered the Constable to stay at
+Tournelles with the corpse of the deceased King in order to
+perform the usual ceremonies.  This commission kept him at a
+distance and out of the scene of action; for this reason the
+Constable dispatched a courier to the King of Navarre, to hasten
+him to Court that they might join their interest to oppose the
+great rise of the House of Guise.  The command of the Army was
+given to the Duke of Guise and the care of the finances to the
+Cardinal of Loraine.  The Duchess of Valentinois was driven from
+Court; the Cardinal de Tournon, the Constable's declared enemy,
+and the Chancellor Olivier, the declared enemy of the Duchess of
+Valentinois, were both recalled.  In a word, the complexion of
+the Court was entirely changed; the Duke of Guise took the same
+rank as the Princes of the blood, in carrying the King's mantle
+at the funeral ceremonies: He and his brothers carried all before
+them at Court, not only by reason of the Cardinal's power with
+the Queen-Mother, but because she thought it in her power to
+remove them should they give her umbrage; whereas she could not
+so easily remove the Constable, who was supported by the Princes
+of the blood.
+
+When the ceremonial of the mourning was over, the Constable came
+to the Louvre, and was very coldly received by the King; he
+desired to speak with him in private, but the King called for
+Messieurs de Guise, and told him before them, that he advised him
+to live at ease; that the finances and the command of the Army
+were disposed of, and that when he had occasion for his advice,
+he would send for him to Court.  The Queen received him in a yet
+colder manner than the King, and she even reproached him for
+having told the late King, that his children by her did not
+resemble him.  The King of Navarre arrived, and was no better
+received; the Prince of Conde, more impatient than his brother,
+complained aloud, but to no purpose: he was removed from Court,
+under pretence of being sent to Flanders to sign the ratification
+of the peace.  They showed the King of Navarre a forged letter
+from the King of Spain, which charged him with a design of
+seizing that King's fortresses; they put him in fear for his
+dominions, and made him take a resolution to go to Bearn; the
+Queen furnished him with an opportunity, by appointing him to
+conduct Madam Elizabeth, and obliged him to set out before her,
+so that there remained nobody at Court that could balance the
+power of the House of Guise.
+
+Though it was a mortifying circumstance for Monsieur de Cleves
+not to conduct Madam Elizabeth, yet he could not complain of it,
+by reason of the greatness of the person preferred before him; he
+regretted the loss of this employment not so much on account of
+the honour he should have received from it, as because it would
+have given him an opportunity of removing his wife from Court
+without the appearance of design in it.
+
+A few days after the King's death, it was resolved the new King
+should go to Rheims to be crowned.  As soon as this journey was
+talked of, Madam de Cleves, who had stayed at home all this while
+under pretence of illness, entreated her husband to dispense with
+her following the Court, and to give her leave to go to take the
+air at Colomiers for her health: he answered, that whether her
+health was the reason or not of her desire, however he consented
+to it: nor was it very difficult for him to consent to a thing he
+had resolved upon before: as good an opinion as he had of his
+wife's virtue, he thought it imprudent to expose her any longer
+to the sight of a man she was in love with.
+
+The Duke de Nemours was soon informed that Madam de Cleves was
+not to go along with the Court; he could not find in his heart to
+set out without seeing her, and therefore the night before his
+journey he went to her house as late as decency would allow him,
+in order to find her alone.  Fortune favoured his intention; and
+Madam de Nevers and Madam de Martigues, whom he met in the Court
+as they were coming out, informed him they had left her alone. 
+He went up in a concern and ferment of mind to be paralleled only
+by that which Madam de Cleves was under, when she was told the
+Duke de Nemours was come to see her; the fear lest he should
+speak to her of his passion, and lest she should answer him too
+favourably, the uneasiness this visit might give her husband, the
+difficulty of giving him an account of it, or of concealing it
+from him, all these things presented themselves to her
+imagination at once, and threw her into so great an
+embarrassment, that she resolved to avoid the thing of the world
+which perhaps she wished for the most.  She sent one of her women
+to the Duke de Nemours, who was in her anti-chamber, to tell him
+that she had lately been very ill, and that she was sorry she
+could not receive the honour which he designed her.  What an
+affliction was it to the Duke, not to see Madam de Cleves, and
+therefore not to see her, because she had no mind he should!  He
+was to go away the next morning, and had nothing further to hope
+from fortune.  He had said nothing to her since that conversation
+at the Queen-Dauphin's apartments, and he had reason to believe
+that his imprudence in telling the Viscount his adventure had
+destroyed all his expectations; in a word, he went away with
+everything that could exasperate his grief.
+
+No sooner was Madam de Cleves recovered from the confusion which
+the thought of receiving a visit from the Duke had given her, but
+all the reasons which had made her refuse it vanished; she was
+even satisfied she had been to blame; and had she dared, or had
+it not been too late, she would have had him called back.
+
+Madam de Nevers and Madam de Martigues went from the Princess of
+Cleves to the Queen-Dauphin's, where they found Monsieur de
+Cleves: the Queen-Dauphin asked them from whence they came; they
+said they came from Madam de Cleves, where they had spent part of
+the afternoon with a great deal of company, and that they had
+left nobody there but the Duke de Nemours.  These words, which
+they thought so indifferent, were not such with Monsieur de
+Cleves: though he might well imagine the Duke de Nemours had
+frequent opportunities of speaking to his wife, yet the thought
+that he was now with her, that he was there alone, and that he
+might speak to her of his life, appeared to him at this time a
+thing so new and insupportable, that jealousy kindled in his
+heart with greater violence than ever.  It was impossible for him
+to stay at the Queen's; he returned from thence, without knowing
+why he returned, or if he designed to go and interrupt the Duke
+de Nemours: he was no sooner come home, but he looked about him
+to see if there was anything by which he could judge if the Duke
+was still there; it was some comfort to him to find he was gone,
+and it was a pleasure to reflect that he could not have been long
+there: he fancied, that, perhaps, it was not the Duke de Nemours
+of whom he had reason to be jealous; and though he did not doubt
+of it, yet he endeavoured to doubt of it; but he was convinced of
+it by so many circumstances, that he continued not long in that
+pleasing uncertainty.  He immediately went into his wife's room,
+and after having talked to her for some time about indifferent
+matters, he could not forbear asking her what she had done, and
+who she had seen, and accordingly she gave him an account: when
+he found she did not name the Duke de Nemours he asked her
+trembling, if those were all she had seen, in order to give her
+an occasion to name the Duke, and that he might not have the
+grief to see she made use of any evasion.  As she had not seen
+him, she did not name him; when Monsieur de Cleves with accents
+of sorrow, said, "And have you not seen the Duke de Nemours, or
+have you forgot him?"  "I have not seen him indeed," answered
+she; "I was ill, and I sent one of my women to make my
+excuses."  "You was ill then only for him," replied Monsieur
+de Cleves, "since you admitted the visits of others: why this
+distinction with respect to the Duke de Nemours?  Why is not he
+to you as another man?  Why should you be afraid of seeing him? 
+Why do you let him perceive that you are so?  Why do you show him
+that you make use of the power which his passion gives you over
+him?  Would you dare refuse to see him, but that you knew he
+distinguishes your rigour from incivility?  But why should you
+exercise that rigour towards him?  From a person like you, all
+things are favours, except indifference."  "I did not think,"
+replied Madam de Cleves, "whatever suspicions you have of the
+Duke de Nemours, that you could reproach me for not admitting a
+visit from him."  "But I do reproach you, Madam," replied he,
+"and I have good ground for so doing; why should you not see
+him, if he has said nothing to you? but Madam, he has spoke to
+you; if his passion had been expressed only by silence, it would
+not have made so great an impression upon you; you have not
+thought fit to tell me the whole truth; you have concealed the
+greatest part from me; you have repented even of the little you
+have acknowledged, and you have not the resolution to go on; I am
+more unhappy than I imagined, more unhappy than any other man in
+the world: you are my wife, I love you as my mistress, and I see
+you at the same time in love with another, with the most amiable
+man of the Court, and he sees you every day, and knows you are in
+love with him:  Alas!  I believed that you would conquer your
+passion for him, but sure I had lost my reason when I believed it
+was possible."  "I don't know," replied Madam de Cleves very
+sorrowfully, "whether you was to blame in judging favourably of
+so extraordinary a proceeding as mine; nor do I know if I was not
+mistaken when I thought you would do me justice."  "Doubt it
+not, Madam," replied Monsieur de Cleves, "you was mistaken; you
+expected from me things as impossible as those I expected from
+you: how could you hope I should continue master of my reason? 
+Had you forgot that I was desperately in love with you, and that
+I was your husband?  Either of these two circumstances is enough
+to hurry a man into extremities; what may they not do both
+together?  Alas!  What do they not do?  My thoughts are violent
+and uncertain, and I am not able to control them; I no longer
+think myself worthy of you, nor do I think you are worthy of me;
+I adore you, I hate you, I offend you, I ask your pardon, I
+admire you, I blush for my admiration: in a word, I have nothing
+of tranquillity or reason left about me: I wonder how I have been
+able to live since you spoke to me at Colomiers, and since you
+learned, from what the Queen-Dauphin told you, that your
+adventure was known; I can't discover how it came to be known,
+nor what passed between the Duke de Nemours and you upon the
+subject; you will never explain it to me, nor do I desire you to
+do it; I only desire you to remember that you have made me the
+most unfortunate, the most wretched of men."
+
+Having spoke these words, Monsieur de Cleves left his wife, and
+set out the next day without seeing her; but he wrote her a
+letter full of sorrow, and at the same time very kind and
+obliging: she gave an answer to it so moving and so full of
+assurances both as to her past and future conduct, that as those
+assurances were grounded in truth, and were the real effect of
+her sentiments, the letter made great impressions on Monsieur de
+Cleves, and gave him some tranquillity; add to this that the Duke
+de Nemours going to the King as well as himself, he had the
+satisfaction to know that he would not be in the same place with
+Madam de Cleves.  Everytime that lady spoke to her husband, the
+passion he expressed for her, the handsomeness of his behaviour,
+the friendship she had for him, and the thought of what she owed
+him, made impressions in her heart that weakened the idea of the
+Duke de Nemours; but it did not continue long, that idea soon
+returned more lively than before.
+
+For a few days after the Duke was gone, she was hardly sensible
+of his absence; afterwards it tortured her; ever since she had
+been in love with him, there did not pass a day, but she either
+feared or wished to meet him, and it was a wounding thought to
+her to consider that it was no more in the power of fortune to
+contrive their meeting.
+
+She went to Colomiers, and ordered to be carried thither the
+large pictures she had caused to be copied from the originals
+which the Duchess of Valentinois had procured to be drawn for her
+fine house of Annett.  All the remarkable actions that had passed
+in the late King's reign were represented in these pieces, and
+among the rest was the Siege of Mets, and all those who had
+distinguished themselves at that Siege were painted much to the
+life.  The Duke de Nemours was of this number, and it was that
+perhaps which had made Madam de Cleves desirous of having the
+pictures.
+
+Madam de Martigues not being able to go along with the Court,
+promised her to come and pass some days at Colomiers.  Though
+they divided the Queen's favour, they lived together without envy
+or coldness; they were friends, but not confidants; Madam de
+Cleves knew that Madam de Martigues was in love with the
+Viscount, but Madam de Martigues did not know that Madam de
+Cleves was in love with the Duke de Nemours, nor that she was
+beloved by him.  The relation Madam de Cleves had to the Viscount
+made her more dear to Madam de Martigues, and Madam de Cleves was
+also fond of her as a person who was in love as well as herself,
+and with an intimate friend of her own lover.
+
+Madam de Martigues came to Colomiers according to her promise,
+and found Madam de Cleves living in a very solitary manner: that
+Princess affected a perfect solitude, and passed the evenings in
+her garden without being accompanied even by her domestics; she
+frequently came into the pavilion where the Duke de Nemours had
+overheard her conversation with her husband; she delighted to be
+in the bower that was open to the garden, while her women and
+attendants waited in the other bower under the pavilion, and
+never came to her but when she called them.  Madam de Martigues
+having never seen Colomiers was surprised at the extraordinary
+beauty of it, and particularly with the pleasantness of the
+pavilion.  Madam de Cleves and she usually passed the evenings
+there.  The liberty of being alone in the night in so agreeable a
+place would not permit the conversation to end soon between two
+young ladies, whose hearts were enflamed with violent passions,
+and they took great pleasure in conversing together, though they
+were not confidants.
+
+Madam de Martigues would have left Colomiers with great
+reluctance had she not quitted it to go to a place where the
+Viscount was; she set out for Chambort, the Court being there.
+
+The King had been anointed at Rheims by the Cardinal of Loraine,
+and the design was to pass the rest of the summer at the castle
+of Chambort, which was newly built; the Queen expressed a great
+deal of joy upon seeing Madam de Martigues again at Court, and
+after having given her several proofs of it, she asked her how
+Madam de Cleves did, and in what manner she passed her time in
+the country.  The Duke de Nemours and the Prince of Cleves were
+with the Queen at that time.  Madam de Martigues, who had been
+charmed with Colomiers, related all the beauties of it, and
+enlarged extremely on the description of the pavilion in the
+forest, and on the pleasure Madam de Cleves took in walking there
+alone part of the night.  The Duke de Nemours, who knew the place
+well enough to understand what Madam de Martigues said of it,
+thought it was not impossible to see Madam de Cleves there,
+without being seen by anybody but her.  He asked Madam de
+Martigues some questions to get further lights; and the Prince of
+Cleves, who had eyed him very strictly while Madam de Martigues
+was speaking, thought he knew what his design was.  The questions
+the Duke asked still more confirmed him in that thought, so that
+he made no doubt but his intention was to go and see his wife; he
+was not mistaken in his suspicions: this design entered so deeply
+into the Duke de Nemours's mind, that after having spent the
+night in considering the proper methods to execute it, he went
+betimes the next morning to ask the King's leave to go to Paris,
+on some pretended occasion.
+
+Monsieur de Cleves was in no doubt concerning the occasion of his
+journey; and he resolved to inform himself as to his wife's
+conduct, and to continue no longer in so cruel an uncertainty; he
+had a desire to set out the same time as the Duke de Nemours did,
+and to hide himself where he might discover the success of the
+journey; but fearing his departure might appear extraordinary,
+and lest the Duke, being advertised of it, might take other
+measures, he resolved to trust this business to a gentleman of
+his, whose fidelity and wit he was assured of; he related to him
+the embarrassment he was under, and what the virtue of his wife
+had been till that time, and ordered him to follow the Duke de
+Nemours, to watch him narrowly, to see if he did not go to
+Colomiers, and if he did not enter the garden in the night.
+
+The gentleman, who was very capable of this commission, acquitted
+himself of it with all the exactness imaginable.  He followed the
+Duke to a village within half a league of Colomiers, where the
+Duke stopped and the gentleman easily guessed his meaning was to
+stay there till night.  He did not think it convenient to wait
+there, but passed on, and placed himself in that part of the
+forest where he thought the Duke would pass: he took his measures
+very right; for it was no sooner night but he heard somebody
+coming that way, and though it was dark, he easily knew the Duke
+de Nemours; he saw him walk round the garden, as with a design to
+listen if he could hear anybody, and to choose the most
+convenient place to enter: the palisades were very high and
+double, in order to prevent people from coming in, so that it was
+very difficult for the Duke to get over, however he made a shift
+to do it.  He was no sooner in the garden but he discovered where
+Madam de Cleves was; he saw a great light in the bower, all the
+windows of it were open; upon this, slipping along by the side of
+the palisades, he came up close to it, and one may easily judge
+what were the emotions of his heart at that instant: he took his
+station behind one of the windows, which served him conveniently
+to see what Madam de Cleves was doing.  He saw she was alone; he
+saw her so inimitably beautiful, that he could scarce govern the
+transports which that sight gave him: the weather was hot, her
+head and neck were uncovered, and her hair hung carelessly about
+her.  She lay on a couch with a table before her, on which were
+several baskets full of ribbons, out of which she chose some, and
+he observed she chose those colours which he wore at the
+tournament; he saw her make them up into knots for an Indian
+cane, which had been his, and which he had given to his sister;
+Madam de Cleves took it from her, without seeming to know it had
+belonged to the Duke.  After she had finished her work with the
+sweetest grace imaginable, the sentiments of her heart showing
+themselves in her countenance, she took a wax candle and came to
+a great table over against the picture of the Siege of Mets, in
+which was the portrait of the Duke de Nemours; she sat down and
+set herself to look upon that portrait, with an attention and
+thoughtfulness which love only can give. 
+
+It is impossible to express what Monsieur de Nemours felt at this
+moment; to see, at midnight, in the finest place in the world, a
+lady he adored, to see her without her knowing that he saw her,
+and to find her wholly taken up with things that related to him,
+and to the passion which she concealed from him; this is what was
+never tasted nor imagined by any other lover.
+
+The Duke was so transported and beside himself, that he continued
+motionless, with his eyes fixed on Madam de Cleves, without
+thinking how precious his time was; when he was a little
+recovered, he thought it best not to speak to her till she came
+into the garden, and he imagined he might do it there with more
+safety, because she would be at a greater distance from her
+women; but finding she stayed in the bower, he resolved to go in
+: when he was upon the point of doing it, what was his confusion;
+how fearful was he of displeasing her, and of changing that
+countenance, where so much sweetness dwelt, into looks of anger
+and resentment!
+
+To come to see Madam de Cleves without being seen by her had no
+impudence in it, but to think of showing himself appeared very
+unwise; a thousand things now came into his mind which he had not
+thought of before; it carried in it somewhat extremely bold and
+extravagant, to surprise in the middle of the night a person to
+whom he had never yet spoke of his passion.  He thought he had no
+reason to expect she would hear him, but that she would justly
+resent the danger to which he exposed her, by accidents which
+might rise from this attempt; all his courage left him, and he
+was several times upon the point of resolving to go back again
+without showing himself; yet urged by the desire of speaking to
+her, and heartened by the hopes which everything he had seen gave
+him, he advanced some steps, but in such disorder, that a scarf
+he had on entangled in the window, and made a noise.  Madam de
+Cleves turned about, and whether her fancy was full of him, or
+that she stood in a place so directly to the light that she might
+know him, she thought it was he, and without the least hesitation
+or turning towards the place where he was, she entered the bower
+where her women were.  On her entering she was in such disorder,
+that to conceal it she was forced to say she was ill; she said it
+too in order to employ her people about her, and to give the Duke
+time to retire.  When she had made some reflection, she thought
+she had been deceived, and that her fancying she saw Monsieur de
+Nemours was only the effect of imagination.  She knew he was at
+Chambort; she saw no probability of his engaging in so hazardous
+an enterprise; she had a desire several times to re-enter the
+bower, and to see if there was anybody in the garden.  She wished
+perhaps as much as she feared to find the Duke de Nemours there;
+but at last reason and prudence prevailed over her other
+thoughts, and she found it better to continue in the doubt she
+was in, than to run the hazard of satisfying herself about it;
+she was a long time ere she could resolve to leave a place to
+which she thought the Duke was so near, and it was almost
+daybreak when she returned to the castle.
+
+The Duke de Nemours stayed in the garden, as long as there was
+any light; he was not without hopes of seeing Madam de Cleves
+again, though he was convinced that she knew him, and that she
+went away only to avoid him; but when he found the doors were
+shut, he knew he had nothing more to hope; he went to take horse
+near the place where Monsieur de Cleves's gentleman was watching
+him; this gentleman followed him to the same village, where he
+had left him in the evening.  The Duke resolved to stay there all
+the day, in order to return at night to Colomiers, to see if
+Madam de Cleves would yet have the cruelty to shun him or not
+expose herself to view: though he was very much pleased to find
+himself so much in her thoughts, yet was he extremely grieved at
+the same time to see her so naturally bent to avoid him.
+
+Never was passion so tender and so violent as that of Monsieur de
+Nemours; he walked under the willows, along a little brook which
+ran behind the house, where he lay concealed; he kept himself as
+much out of the way as possible, that he might not be seen by
+anybody; he abandoned himself to the transports of his love, and
+his heart was so full of tenderness, that he was forced to let
+fall some tears, but those tears were such as grief alone could
+not shed; they had a mixture of sweetness and pleasure in them
+which is to be found only in love.
+
+He set himself to recall to mind all the actions of Madam de
+Cleves ever since he had been in love with her; her cruelty and
+rigour, and that modesty and decency of behaviour she had always
+observed towards him, though she loved him; "For, after all, she
+loves me," said he, "she loves me, I cannot doubt of it, the
+deepest engagements and the greatest favours are not more certain
+proofs than those I have had.  In the meantime, I am treated with
+the same rigour as if I were hated; I hoped something from time,
+but I have no reason to expect it any longer; I see her always
+equally on her guard against me and against herself; if I were
+not loved, I should make it my business to please; but I do
+please; she loves me, and tries to hide it from me.  What have I
+then to hope, and what change am I to expect in my fortune?
+though I am loved by the most amiable person in the world, I am
+under that excess of passion which proceeds from the first
+certainty of being loved by her, only to make me more sensible of
+being ill used; let me see that you love me, fair Princess,"
+cried he, "make me acquainted with your sentiments; provided I
+know them once in my life from you, I am content that you resume
+for ever the cruelties with which you oppress me; look upon me at
+least with the same eyes with which I saw you look that night
+upon my picture; could you behold that with such sweet
+complacency, and yet avoid me with so much cruelty?  What are you
+afraid of?  Why does my love appear so terrible to you?  You love
+me, and you endeavour in vain to conceal it; you have even given
+me involuntary proofs of it; I know my happiness, permit me to
+enjoy it, and cease to make me unhappy.  Is it possible I should
+be loved by the Princess of Cleves, and yet be unhappy? how
+beautiful was she last night? how could I forbear throwing myself
+at her feet?  If I had done it, I might perhaps have hindered her
+from shunning me, my respectful behaviour would have removed her
+fears; but perhaps, after all, she did not know it was I; I
+afflict myself more than I need; she was only frightened to see a
+man at so unseasonable an hour."
+
+These thoughts employed the Duke de Nemours all the day; he
+wished impatiently for the night, and as soon as it came he
+returned to Colomiers.  Monsieur de Cleves's gentleman, who was
+disguised that he might be less observed, followed him to the
+place to which he had followed him the evening before, and saw
+him enter the garden again.  The Duke soon perceived that Madam
+de Cleves had not run the risk of his making another effort to
+see her, the doors being all shut; he looked about on all sides
+to see if he could discover any light, but he saw none.
+
+Madam de Cleves, suspecting he might return, continued in her
+chamber; she had reason to apprehend she should not always have
+the power to avoid him, and she would not submit herself to the
+hazard of speaking to him in a manner that would have been
+unsuitable to the conduct she had hitherto observed.
+
+Monsieur de Nemours, though he had no hopes of seeing her, could
+not find in his heart soon to leave a place where she so often
+was; he passed the whole night in the garden, and found some
+pleasure at least in seeing the same objects which she saw every
+day; it was near sunrise before he thought of retiring; but as
+last the fear of being discovered obliged him to go away.
+
+It was impossible for him to return to Court without seeing Madam
+de Cleves; he made a visit to his sister the Duchess of Mercoeur,
+at her house near Colomiers.  She was extremely surprised at her
+brother's arrival; but he invented so probable a pretence for his
+journey, and conducted his plot so skilfully, that he drew her to
+make the first proposal herself of visiting Madam de Cleves. 
+This proposal was executed that very day, and Monsieur de Nemours
+told his sister, that he would leave her at Colomiers, in order
+to go directly to the King; he formed this pretence of leaving
+her at Colomiers in hopes she would take her leave before him,
+and he thought he had found out by that means an infallible way
+of speaking to Madam de Cleves.
+
+The Princess of Cleves, when they arrived, was walking in her
+garden the sight of Monsieur de Nemours gave her no small
+uneasiness, and put her out of doubt that it was he she had seen
+the foregoing night.  The certainty of his having done so bold
+and imprudent a thing gave her some little resentment against
+him, and the Duke observed an air of coldness in her face, which
+sensibly grieved him; the conversation turned upon indifferent
+matters, and yet he had the skill all the while to show so much
+wit, complaisance, and admiration for Madam de Cleves, that part
+of the coldness she expressed towards him at first left her in
+spite of herself.
+
+When his fears were over and he began to take heart, he showed an
+extreme curiosity to see the pavilion in the forest; he spoke of
+it as of the most agreeable place in the world, and gave so exact
+a description of it, that Madam de Mercoeur said he must needs
+have been there several times to know all the particular beauties
+of it so well.  "And yet, I don't believe," replied Madam de
+Cleves, "that the Duke de Nemours was ever there; it has been
+finished but a little while."  "It is not long since I was
+there," replied the Duke, looking upon her, "and I don't know
+if I ought not to be glad you have forgot you saw me there."
+Madam de Mercoeur, being taken up in observing the beauties of
+the gardens, did not attend to what her brother said; Madam de
+Cleves blushed, and with her eyes cast down, without looking on
+Monsieur de Nemours, "I don't remember," said she, "to have
+seen you there; and if you have been there, it was without my
+knowledge."  "It is true, Madam," replied he, "I was there
+without your orders, and I passed there the most sweet and cruel
+moments of my life."
+
+Madam de Cleves understood very well what he said, but made him
+no answer; her care was to prevent Madam de Mercoeur from going
+into the bower, because the Duke de Nemours's picture was there,
+and she had no mind she should see it; she managed the matter so
+well, that the time passed away insensibly, and Madam de Mercoeur
+began to talk of going home: but when Madam de Cleves found that
+the Duke and his sister did not go together, she plainly saw to
+what she was going to be exposed; she found herself under the
+same embarrassment she was in at Paris, and took also the same
+resolution; her fear, lest this visit should be a further
+confirmation of her husband's suspicions, did not a little
+contribute to determine her; and to the end Monsieur de Nemours
+might not remain alone with her, she told Madam de Mercoeur she
+would wait upon her to the borders of the forest, and ordered her
+chariot to be got ready.  The Duke was struck with such a violent
+grief to find that Madam de Cleves still continued to exercise
+the same rigours towards him, that he turned pale that moment. 
+Madam de Mercoeur asked him if he was ill, but he looked upon
+Madam de Cleves without being perceived by anybody else, and made
+her sensible by his looks that he had no other illness besides
+despair: however, there was no remedy but he must let them go
+together without daring to follow them; after what he had told
+his sister, that he was to go directly to Court, he could not
+return with her, but went to Paris, and set out from thence the
+next day.
+
+Monsieur de Cleves's gentleman had observed him all the while; he
+returned also to Paris, and when he found Monsieur de Nemours was
+set out for Chambort, he took post to get thither before him, and
+to give an account of his journey; his master expected his return
+with impatience, as if the happiness or unhappiness of his life
+depended upon it.
+
+As soon as he saw him, he judged from his countenance and his
+silence, that the news he brought was very disagreeable; he was
+struck with sorrow, and continued some time with his head hung
+down, without being able to speak; at last he made signs with his
+hand to him to withdraw; "Go," says he, "I see what you have
+to say to me, but I have not the power to hear it."  "I can
+acquaint you with nothing," said the gentleman, "upon which one
+can form any certain judgment; it is true, the Duke de Nemours
+went two nights successively into the garden in the forest, and
+the day after he was at Colomiers with the Duchess of Mercoeur." 
+"'Tis enough," replied Monsieur de Cleves, still making signs
+to him to withdraw, "'tis enough; I want no further
+information."  The gentleman was forced to leave his master,
+abandoned to his despair; nor ever was despair more violent.  Few
+men of so high a spirit, and so passionately in love, as the
+Prince of Cleves, have experienced at the same time the grief
+arising from the falsehood of a mistress, and the shame of being
+deceived by a wife.
+
+Monsieur de Cleves could set no bounds to his affliction; he felt
+ill of a fever that very night, and his distemper was accompanied
+with such ill symptoms that it was thought very dangerous.  Madam
+de Cleves was informed of it, and came in all haste to him; when
+she arrived, he was still worse; besides, she observed something
+in him so cold and chilling with respect to her, that she was
+equally surprised and grieved at it; he even seemed to receive
+with pain the services she did him in his sickness, but at last
+she imagined it was perhaps only the effect of his distemper.
+
+When she was come to Blois where the Court then was, the Duke de
+Nemours was overjoyed to think she was at the same place where he
+was; he endeavoured to see her, and went every day to the Prince
+of Cleves's under pretence of enquiring how he did, but it was to
+no purpose; she did not stir out of her husband's room, and was
+grieved at heart for the condition he was in.  It vexed Monsieur
+de Nemours to see her under such affliction, an affliction which
+he plainly saw revived the friendship she had for Monsieur de
+Cleves, and diverted the passion that lay kindling in her heart. 
+The thought of this shocked him severely for some time; but the
+extremity, to which Monsieur de Cleves's sickness was grown,
+opened to him a scene of new hopes; he saw it was probable that
+Madam de Cleves would be at liberty to follow her own
+inclinations, and that he might expect for the future a series of
+happiness and lasting pleasures; he could not support the ecstasy
+of that thought, a thought so full of transport! he banished it
+out of his mind for fear of becoming doubly wretched, if he
+happened to be disappointed in his hopes.
+
+In the meantime Monsieur de Cleves was almost given over by his
+physicians.  One of the last days of his illness, after having
+had a very bad night, he said in the morning, he had a desire to
+sleep; but Madam de Cleves, who remained alone in his chamber,
+found that instead of taking repose he was extremely restless;
+she came to him, and fell on her knees by his bedside, her face
+all covered with tears; and though Monsieur de Cleves had taken a
+resolution not to show her the violent displeasure he had
+conceived against her, yet the care she took of him, and the
+sorrow she expressed, which sometimes he thought sincere, and at
+other times the effect of her dissimulation and perfidiousness,
+distracted him so violently with opposite sentiments full of woe,
+that he could not forbear giving them vent.
+
+"You shed plenty of tears, Madam," said he, "for a death which
+you are the cause of, and which cannot give you the trouble you
+pretend to be in; I am no longer in a condition to reproach
+you," added he with a voice weakened by sickness and grief; "I
+die through the dreadful grief and discontent you have given me;
+ought so extraordinary an action, as that of your speaking to me
+at Colomiers, to have had so little consequences?  Why did you
+inform me of your passion for the Duke de Nemours, if your virtue
+was no longer able to oppose it?  I loved you to that extremity,
+I would have been glad to have been deceived, I confess it to my
+shame; I have regretted that pleasing false security out of which
+you drew me; why did not you leave me in that blind tranquillity
+which so many husbands enjoy?  I should perhaps have been
+ignorant all my life, that you was in love with Monsieur de
+Nemours; I shall die," added he, "but know that you make death
+pleasing to me, and that, after you have taken from me the esteem
+and affection I had for you, life would be odious to me.  What
+should I live for? to spend my days with a person whom I have
+loved so much, and by whom I have been so cruelly deceived; or to
+live apart from her and break out openly into violences so
+opposite to my temper, and the love I had for you?  That love,
+Madam, was far greater than it appeared to you; I concealed the
+greatest part of it from you, for fear of being importunate, or
+of losing somewhat in your esteem by a behaviour not becoming a
+husband: in a word, I deserved your affection more than once, and
+I die without regret, since I have not been able to obtain it,
+and since I can no longer desire it.  Adieu, Madam; you will one
+day regret a man who loved you with a sincere and virtuous
+passion; you will feel the anxiety which reasonable persons meet
+with in intrigue and gallantry, and you will know the difference
+between such a love as I had for you, and the love of people who
+only profess admiration for you to gratify their vanity in
+seducing you; but my death will leave you at liberty, and you may
+make the Duke de Nemours happy without guilt: what signifies
+anything that can happen when I am no more, and why should I have
+the weakness to trouble myself about it?
+
+Madam de Cleves was so far from imagining that her husband
+suspected her virtue, that she heard all this discourse without
+comprehending the meaning of it, and without having any other
+notion about it, except that he reproached her for her
+inclination for the Duke de Nemours; at last, starting all of a
+sudden out of her blindness, "I guilty!" cried she, "I am a
+stranger to the very thought of guilt; the severest virtue could
+not have inspired any other conduct than that which I have
+followed, and I never acted anything but what I could have wished
+you to have been witness to."  "Could you have wished,"
+replied Monsieur de Cleves, looking on her with disdain, "I had
+been a witness of those nights you passed with Monsieur de
+Nemours?  Ah! Madam; is it you I speak of, when I speak of a lady
+that has passed nights with a man, not her husband?"  "No,
+sir," replied she, "it is not me you speak of; I never spent a
+night nor a moment with the Duke de Nemours; he never saw me in
+private, I never suffered him to do it, nor would give him a
+hearing.  I'll take all the oaths . . ."  "Speak no more of
+it," said he interrupting her, "false oaths or a confession
+would perhaps give me equal pain."
+
+Madam de Cleves could not answer him; her tears and her grief
+took away her speech; at last, struggling for utterance, "Look
+on me at least, hear me," said she; "if my interest only were
+concerned I would suffer these reproaches, but your life is at
+stake; hear me for your own sake; I am so innocent, truth pleads
+so strongly for me, it is impossible but I must convince you." 
+"Would to God you could!" cried he; "but what can you say? the
+Duke de Nemours, has not he been at Colomiers with his sister? 
+And did not he pass the two foregoing nights with you in the
+garden in the forest?"  "If that be my crime," replied she,
+"it is easy to justify myself; I do not desire you to believe
+me, believe your servants and domestics; ask them if I went into
+the garden the evening before Monsieur de Nemours came to
+Colomiers, and if I did not go out, of it the night before two
+hours sooner than I used to do."  After this she told him how
+she imagined she had seen somebody in the garden, and
+acknowledged that she believed it to be the Duke de Nemours; she
+spoke to him with so much confidence, and truth so naturally
+persuades, even where it is not probable, that Monsieur de Cleves
+was almost convinced of her innocence.  "I don't know," said
+he, "whether I ought to believe you; I am so near death, that I
+would not know anything that might make me die with reluctance;
+you have cleared your innocence too late; however it will be a
+comfort to me to go away with the thought that you are worthy of
+the esteem I have had for you; I beg you I may be assured of this
+further comfort, that my memory will be dear to you, and that if
+it had been in your power you would have had for me the same
+passion which you had for another."  He would have gone on, but
+was so weak that his speech failed him.  Madam de Cleves sent for
+the physicians, who found him almost lifeless; yet he languished
+some days, and died at last with admirable constancy.
+
+Madam de Cleves was afflicted to so violent a degree, that she
+lost in a manner the use of her reason; the Queen was so kind as
+to come to see her, and carried her to a convent without her
+being sensible whither she was conducted; her sisters-in-law
+brought her back to Paris, before she was in a condition to feel
+distinctly even her griefs: when she was restored to her faculty
+of thinking, and reflected what a husband she had lost, and
+considered that she had caused his death by the passion which she
+had for another, the horror she had for herself and the Duke de
+Nemours was not to be expressed.
+
+The Duke in the beginning of her mourning durst pay her no other
+respects but such as decency required; he knew Madam de Cleves
+enough to be sensible that great importunities and eagerness
+would be disagreeable to her; but what he learned afterwards
+plainly convinced him that he ought to observe the same conduct a
+great while longer.
+
+A servant of the Duke's informed him that Monsieur de Cleves's
+gentleman, who was his intimate friend, had told him, in the
+excess of his grief for the loss of his master, that Monsieur de
+Nemours's journey to Colomiers was the occasion of his death. 
+The Duke was extremely surprised to hear this; but after having
+reflected upon it, he guessed the truth in part, and rightly
+judged what Madam de Cleves's sentiments would be at first, and
+what a distance it would throw him from her, if she thought her
+husband's illness was occasioned by his jealousy; he was of
+opinion that he ought not so much as to put her in mind of his
+name very soon, and he abided by that conduct, however severe it
+appeared to him.
+
+He took a journey to Paris, nor could he forbear calling at her
+house to enquire how she did.  He was told, that she saw nobody,
+and that she had even given strict orders that they should not
+trouble her with an account of any that might come to see her;
+those very strict orders, perhaps, were given with a view to the
+Duke, and to prevent her hearing him spoken of; but he was too
+much in love to be able to live so absolutely deprived of the
+sight of Madam de Cleves; he resolved to find the means, let the
+difficulty be what it would, to get out of a condition which was
+so insupportable to him.
+
+The grief of that Princess exceeded the bounds of reason; a
+husband dying, and dying on her account, and with so much
+tenderness for her, never went out of her mind: she continually
+revolved in her thoughts what she owed him, and she condemned
+herself for not having had a passion for him, as if that had been
+a thing which depended on herself; she found no consolation but
+in the thought that she lamented him as he deserved to be
+lamented, and that she would do nothing during the remainder of
+her life, but what he would have been glad she should have done,
+had he lived.
+
+She had often been thinking how he came to know, that the Duke de
+Nemours had been at Colomiers; she could not suspect that the
+Duke himself had told it; though it was indifferent to her
+whether he had or no, she thought herself so perfectly cured of
+the passion she had had for him; and yet she was grieved at the
+heart to think that he was the cause of her husband's death; and
+she remembered with pain the fear Monsieur de Cleves expressed,
+when dying, lest she should marry the Duke; but all these griefs
+were swallowed up in that for the loss of her husband, and she
+thought she had no other but that one.
+
+After several months the violence of her grief abated, and she
+fell into a languishing kind of melancholy.  Madam de Martigues
+made a journey to Paris, and constantly visited her during the
+time she stayed there: she entertained her with an account of the
+Court, and what passed there; and though Madam de Cleves appeared
+unconcerned, yet still she continued talking on that subject in
+hopes to divert her.
+
+She talked to her of the Viscount, of Monsieur de Guise, and of
+all others that were distinguished either in person or merit. 
+"As for the Duke de Nemours," says she, "I don't know if State
+affairs have not taken possession of his heart in the room of
+gallantry; he is abundantly less gay than he used to be, and
+seems wholly to decline the company of women; he often makes
+journeys to Paris, and I believe he is there now."  The Duke de
+Nemours's name surprised Madam de Cleves, and made her blush; she
+changed the discourse, nor did Madam de Martigues take notice of
+her concern.
+
+The next day Madam de Cleves, who employed herself in things
+suitable to the condition she was in, went to a man's house in
+her neighbourhood, that was famous for working silk after a
+particular manner, and she designed to bespeak some pieces for
+herself; having seen several kinds of his work, she spied a
+chamber door, where she thought there were more, and desired it
+might be opened: the master answered, he had not the key, and
+that the room was taken by a man, who came there sometimes in the
+daytime to draw the plans and prospects of the fine houses and
+gardens that were to be seen from his windows; "he is one of the
+handsomest men I ever saw," added he, "and does not look much
+like one that works for his living; whenever he comes here, I
+observe he always looks towards the gardens and houses, but I
+never see him work."
+
+Madam de Cleves listened to this story very attentively, and what
+Madam de Martigues had told her of Monsieur de Nemours's coming
+now and then to Paris, she applied in her fancy to that handsome
+man, who came to a place so near her house; and this gave her an
+idea of Monsieur de Nemours endeavouring to see her; which raised
+a disorder in her, of which she did not know the cause: she went
+towards the windows to see where they looked into, and she found
+they overlooked all her gardens, and directly faced her
+apartment: and when she was in her own room, she could easily see
+that very window where she was told the man came to take his
+prospects.  The thought that it was the Duke de Nemours, entirely
+changed the situation of her mind; she no longer found herself in
+that pensive tranquillity which she had begun to enjoy, her
+spirits were ruffled again as with a tempest: at last, not being
+able to stay at home, she went abroad to take the air in a garden
+without the suburbs, where she hoped to be alone; she walked
+about a great while, and found no likelihood of anyone's being
+there.
+
+Having crossed a little wilderness she perceived at the end of
+the walk, in the most remote part of the garden, a kind of a
+bower, open on all sides, and went towards it; when she was near,
+she saw a man lying on the benches, who seemed sunk into a deep
+contemplation, and she discovered it was the Duke de Nemours. 
+Upon this she stopped short: but her attendants made some noise,
+which roused the Duke out of his musing: he took no notice who
+the persons were that disturbed him, but got up in order to avoid
+the company that was coming towards him, and making a low bow,
+which hindered him from seeing those he saluted, he turned into
+another walk.
+
+If he had known whom he avoided, with what eagerness would he
+have returned?  But he walked down the alley, and Madam de Cleves
+saw him go out at a back door, where his coach waited for him. 
+What an effect did this transient view produce in the heart of
+Madam de Cleves?  What a flame rekindled out of the embers of her
+love, and with what violence did it burn?  She went and sat down
+in the same place from which Monsieur de Nemours was newly risen,
+and seemed perfectly overwhelmed; his image immediately possessed
+her fancy, and she considered him as the most amiable person in
+the world, as one who had long loved her with a passion full of
+veneration and sincerity, slighting all for her, paying respect
+even to her grief, to his own torture, labouring to see her
+without a thought of being seen by her, quitting the Court
+(though the Court's delight) to come and look on the walls where
+she was shut up, and to pass his melancholy hours in places where
+he could not hope to meet her; in a word, a man whose attachment
+to her alone merited returns of love, and for whom she had so
+strong an inclination, that she should have loved him, though she
+had not been beloved by him; and besides, one whose quality was
+suitable to hers: all the obstacles that could rise from duty and
+virtue were now removed, and all the trace that remained on her
+mind of their former condition was the passion the Duke de
+Nemours had for her, and that which she had for him.
+
+All these ideas were new to her; her affliction for the death of
+her husband had left her no room for thoughts of this kind, but
+the sight of Monsieur de Nemours revived them, and they crowded
+again into her mind; but when she had taken her fill of them, and
+remembered that this very man, whom she considered as a proper
+match for her, was the same she had loved in her husband's
+lifetime, and was the cause of his death, and that on his
+death-bed he had expressed a fear of her marrying him, her severe
+virtue was so shocked at the imagination, that she thought it
+would be as criminal in her to marry Monsieur de Nemours now, as
+it was to love him before: in short, she abandoned herself to
+these reflections so pernicious to her happiness, and fortified
+herself in them by the inconveniency which she foresaw would
+attend such a marriage.  After two hours' stay in this place she
+returned home, convinced that it was indispensably her duty to
+avoid the sight of the man she loved.
+
+But this conviction, which was the effect of reason and virtue,
+did not carry her heart along with it; her heart was so violently
+fixed on the Duke de Nemours, that she became even an object of
+compassion, and was wholly deprived of rest.  Never did she pass
+a night in so uneasy a manner; in the morning, the first thing
+she did was to see if there was anybody at the window which
+looked towards her apartment; she saw there Monsieur de Nemours,
+and was so surprised upon it, and withdrew so hastily, as made
+him judge she knew him; he had often wished to be seen by her,
+ever since he had found out that method of seeing her, and when
+he had no hopes of obtaining that satisfaction, his way was to go
+to muse in the garden where she found him.
+
+Tired at last with so unfortunate and uncertain a condition, he
+resolved to attempt something to determine his fate:  "What
+should I wait for?" said he.  "I have long known she loves me;
+she is free; she has no duty now to plead against me; why should
+I submit myself to the hardship of seeing her, without being seen
+by her or speaking to her?  Is it possible for love so absolutely
+to have deprived me of reason and courage, and to have rendered
+me so different from what I have been in all my other amours?  It
+was fit I should pay a regard to Madam de Cleves's grief; but I
+do it too long, and I give her leisure to extinguish the
+inclination she had for me."
+
+After these reflections, he considered what measures he ought to
+take to see her; he found he had no longer any reason to conceal
+his passion from the Viscount de Chartres; he resolved to speak
+to him of it, and to communicate to him his design with regard to
+his niece.
+
+The Viscount was then at Paris, the town being extremely full,
+and everybody busy in preparing equipages and dresses to attend
+the King of Navarre, who was to conduct the Queen of Spain:
+Monsieur de Nemours, went to the Viscount, and made an ingenuous
+confession to him of all he had concealed hitherto, except Madam
+de Cleves's sentiments, which he would not seem to know.
+
+The Viscount received what he told him with a great deal of
+pleasure, and assured him, that though he was not acquainted with
+his sentiments on that subject, he had often thought, since Madam
+de Cleves had been a widow, that she was the only lady that
+deserved him.  Monsieur de Nemours entreated him to give him an
+opportunity of speaking to her, and learning what disposition she
+was in.
+
+The Viscount proposed to carry him to her house, but the Duke was
+of opinion she would be shocked at it, because as yet she saw
+nobody; so that they agreed, it would be better for the Viscount
+to ask her to come to him, under some pretence, and for the Duke
+to come to them by a private staircase, that he might not be
+observed.  Accordingly this was executed; Madam de Cleves came,
+the Viscount went to receive her, and led her into a great closet
+at the end of his apartment; some time after Monsieur de Nemours
+came in, as by chance:  Madam de Cleves was in great surprise to
+see him; she blushed and endeavoured to hide it; the Viscount at
+first spoke of indifferent matters, and then went out, as if he
+had some orders to give, telling Madam de Cleves he must desire
+her to entertain the Duke in his stead, and that he would return
+immediately.
+
+It is impossible to express the sentiments of Monsieur de
+Nemours, and Madam de Cleves, when they saw themselves alone, and
+at liberty to speak to one another, as they had never been
+before: they continued silent a while; at length, said Monsieur
+de Nemours, "Can you, Madam, pardon the Viscount for giving me
+an opportunity of seeing you, and speaking to you, an opportunity
+which you have always so cruelly denied me?"  "I ought not to
+pardon him," replied she, "for having forgot the condition I am
+in, and to what he exposes my reputation."  Having spoke these
+words, she would have gone away; but Monsieur de Nemours stopping
+her, "Fear not, Madam," said he; "you have nothing to
+apprehend; nobody knows I am here; hear me, Madam, hear me, if
+not out of goodness, yet at least for your own sake, and to free
+yourself from the extravagancies which a passion I am no longer
+master of will infallibly hurry me into."  Madam de Cleves now
+first yielded to the inclination she had for the Duke de Nemours,
+and beholding him with eyes full of softness and charms, "But
+what can you hope for," says she, "from the complaisance you
+desire of me?  You will perhaps repent that you have obtained it,
+and I shall certainly repent that I have granted it.  You deserve
+a happier fortune than you have hitherto had, or than you can
+have for the future, unless you seek it elsewhere."  "I,
+Madam," said he, "seek happiness anywhere else?  Or is there
+any happiness for me, but in your love?  Though I never spoke of
+it before, I cannot believe, Madam, that you are not acquainted
+with my passion, or that you do not know it to be the greatest
+and most sincere that ever was; what trials has it suffered in
+things you are a stranger to?  What trials have you put it to by
+your rigour?"
+
+"Since you are desirous I should open myself to you," answered
+Madam de Cleves, "I'll comply with your desire, and I'll do it
+with a sincerity that is rarely to be met with in persons of my
+sex:  I shall not tell you that I have not observed your passion
+for me; perhaps you would not believe me if I should tell you so;
+I confess therefore to you, not only that I have observed it, but
+that I have observed it in such lights as you yourself could wish
+it might appear to me in."  "And if you have seen my passion,
+Madam," said he, "is it possible for you not to have been moved
+by it?  And may I venture to ask, if it has made no impression on
+your heart?"  "You should have judged of that from my
+conduct," replied she; "but I should be glad to know what you
+thought of it."  "I ought to be in a happier condition,"
+replied he, "to venture to inform you; my fortune would
+contradict what I should say; all I can tell you, Madam, is that
+I heartily wished you had not acknowledged to Monsieur de Cleves
+what you concealed from me, and that you had concealed from him
+what you made appear to me."  "How came you to discover,"
+replied she blushing, "that I acknowledged anything to Monsieur
+de Cleves?"  "I learned it from yourself, Madam," replied he;
+"but that you may the better pardon the boldness I showed in
+listening to what you said, remember if I have made an ill use of
+what I heard, if my hopes rose upon it, or if I was the more
+encouraged to speak to you."
+
+Here he began to relate how he had overheard her conversation
+with Monsieur de Cleves; but she interrupted him before he had
+finished; "Say no more of it," said she, "I see how you came
+to be so well informed; I suspected you knew the business but too
+well at the Queen-Dauphin's, who learned this adventure from
+those you had entrusted with it."
+
+Upon this Monsieur de Nemours informed her in what manner the
+thing came to pass; "No excuses," says she; "I have long
+forgiven you, without being informed how it was brought about;
+but since you have learned from my ownself what I designed to
+conceal from you all my life, I will acknowledge to you that you
+have inspired me with sentiments I was unacquainted with before I
+saw you, and of which I had so slender an idea, that they gave me
+at first a surprise which still added to the pain that constantly
+attends them: I am the less ashamed to make you this confession,
+because I do it at a time when I may do it without a crime, and
+because you have seen that my conduct has not been governed by my
+affections."
+
+"Can you believe, Madam," said Monsieur de Nemours, falling on
+his knees, "but I shall expire at your feet with joy and
+transport?"  "I have told you nothing," said she smiling,
+"but what you knew too well before."  "Ah! Madam," said he,
+"what a difference is there between learning it by chance, and
+knowing it from yourself, and seeing withal that you are pleased
+I know it."  "It is true," answered she, "I would have you
+know it, and I find a pleasure in telling it you; I don't even
+know if I do not tell it you more for my own sake, than for
+yours; for, after all, this confession will have no consequences,
+and I shall follow the austere rules which my duty imposes upon
+me."  "How! Madam; you are not of this opinion," replied
+Monsieur de Nemours; "you are no longer under any obligation of
+duty; you are at liberty; and if I durst, I should even tell you,
+that it is in your power to act so, that your duty shall one day
+oblige you to preserve the sentiments you have for me."  "My
+duty," replied she, "forbids me to think of any man, but of you
+the last in the world, and for reasons which are unknown to
+you."  "Those reasons perhaps are not unknown to me," answered
+he, "but they are far from being good ones.  I believe that
+Monsieur de Cleves thought me happier than I was, and imagined
+that you approved of those extravagancies which my passion led me
+into without your approbation."  "Let us talk no more of that
+adventure," said she; "I cannot bear the thought of it, it
+giving me shame, and the consequences of it have been such that
+it is too melancholy a subject to be spoken of; it is but too
+true that you were the cause of Monsieur de Cleves's death; the
+suspicions which your inconsiderate conduct gave him, cost him
+his life as much as if you had taken it away with your own hands:
+judge what I ought to have done, had you two fought a duel, and
+he been killed; I know very well, it is not the same thing in the
+eye of the world, but with me there's no difference, since I know
+that his death was owing to you, and that it was on my account." 
+"Ah! Madam," said Monsieur de Nemours, "what phantom of duty
+do you oppose to my happiness?  What!  Madam, shall a vain and
+groundless fancy hinder you from making a man happy, for whom you
+have an inclination?  What, have I had some ground to hope I
+might pass my life with you? has my fate led me to love the most
+deserving lady in the world? have I observed in her all that can
+make a mistress adorable?  Has she had no disliking to me?  Have
+I found in her conduct everything which perhaps I could wish for
+in a wife?  For in short, Madam, you are perhaps the only person
+in whom those two characters have ever concurred to the degree
+they are in you; those who marry mistresses, by whom they are
+loved, tremble when they marry them, and cannot but fear lest
+they should observe the same conduct towards others which they
+observed towards them; but in you, Madam, I can fear nothing, I
+see nothing in you but matter of admiration: have I had a
+prospect of so much felicity for no other end but to see it
+obstructed by you?  Ah! Madam, you forget, that you have
+distinguished me above other men; or rather, you have not
+distinguished me; you have deceived yourself, and I have
+flattered myself."
+
+"You have not flattered yourself," replied she; "the reasons
+of my duty would not perhaps appear so strong to me without that
+distinction of which you doubt, and it is that which makes me
+apprehend unfortunate consequences from your alliance."  "I
+have nothing to answer, Madam," replied he, "when you tell me
+you apprehend unfortunate consequences; but I own, that after all
+you have been pleased to say to me, I did not expect from you so
+cruel a reason."  "The reason you speak of," replied Madam de
+Cleves, "is so little disobliging as to you, that I don't know
+how to tell it you."  "Alas!  Madam," said he, " how can you
+fear I should flatter myself too much after what you have been
+saying to me?"  "I shall continue to speak to you," says she,
+"with the same sincerity with which I begun, and I'll lay aside
+that delicacy and reserve that modesty obliges one to in a first
+conversation, but I conjure you to hear me without interruption.
+
+"I think I owe the affection you have for me, the poor
+recompsense not to hide from you any of my thoughts, and to let
+you see them such as they really are; this in all probability
+will be the only time I  shall allow myself the freedom to
+discover them to you; and I cannot confess without a blush, that
+the certainty of not being loved by you, as I am, appears to me
+so dreadful a misfortune, that if I had not invincible reasons
+grounded on my duty, I could not resolve to subject myself to it;
+I know that you are free, that I am so too, and that
+circumstances are such, that the public perhaps would have no
+reason to blame either you or me, should we unite ourselves
+forever; but do men continue to love, when under engagements for
+life?  Ought I to expect a miracle in my favour?  And shall I
+place myself in a condition of seeing certainly that passion come
+to an end, in which I should place all my felicity?  Monsieur de
+Cleves was perhaps the only man in the world capable of
+continuing to love after marriage; it was my ill fate that I was
+not able to enjoy that happiness, and perhaps his passion had not
+lasted but that he found none, in me; but I should not have the,
+same way of preserving yours; I even think your constancy is
+owing to the obstacles you have met with; you have met with
+enough to animate you to conquer them; and my unguarded actions,
+or what you learned by chance, gave you hopes enough not to be
+discouraged."  "Ah!  Madam," replied Monsieur de Nemours, "I
+cannot keep the silence you enjoined me; you do me too much
+injustice, and make it appear too clearly that you are far from
+being prepossessed in my favour."  "I confess," answered she,
+"that my passions may lead me, but they cannot blind me; nothing
+can hinder me from knowing that you are born with a disposition
+for gallantry, and have all the qualities proper to give success;
+you have already had a great many amours, and you will have more;
+I should no longer be she you placed your happiness in; I should
+see you as warm for another as you had been for me; this would
+grievously vex me, and I am not sure I should not have the
+torment of jealousy; I have said too much to conceal from you
+that you have already made me know what jealousy is, and that I
+suffered such cruel inquietudes the evening the Queen gave me
+Madam de Themines's letter, which it was said was addressed to
+you, that to this moment I retain an idea of it, which makes me
+believe it is the worst of all ills.
+
+"There is scarce a woman but out of vanity or inclination
+desires to engage you; there are very few whom you do not please,
+and my own experience would make me believe, that there are none
+whom it is not in your power to please; I should think you always
+in love and beloved, nor should I be often mistaken; and yet in
+this case I should have no remedy but patience, nay I question if
+I should dare to complain: a lover may be reproached; but can a
+husband be so, when one has nothing to urge, but that he loves
+one no longer?  But admit I could accustom myself to bear a
+misfortune of this nature, yet how could I bear that of imagining
+I constantly saw Monsieur de Cleves, accusing you of his death,
+reproaching me with having loved you, with having married you,
+and showing me the difference betwixt his affection and yours? 
+It is impossible to over-rule such strong reasons as these; I
+must continue in the condition I am in, and in the resolution I
+have taken never to alter it."  "Do you believe you have the
+power to do it, Madam?" cried the Duke de Nemours.  "Do you
+think your resolution can hold out against a man who adores, and
+who has the happiness to please you?  It is more difficult than
+you imagine, Madam, to resist a person who pleases and loves one
+at the same time; you have done it by an austerity of virtue,
+which is almost without example; but that virtue no longer
+opposes your inclinations, and I hope you will follow them in
+spite of yourself."  "I know nothing can be more difficult than
+what I undertake," replied Madam de Cleves; "I distrust my
+strength in the midst of my reasons; what I think I owe to the
+memory of Monsieur de Cleves would be a weak consideration, if
+not supported by the interest of my ease and repose; and the
+reasons of my repose have need to be supported by those of my
+duty; but though I distrust myself, I believe I shall never
+overcome my scruples, nor do I so much as hope to overcome the
+inclination I have for you; that inclination will make me
+unhappy, and I will deny myself the sight of you, whatever
+violence it is to me:  I conjure you, by all the power I have
+over you, to seek no occasion of seeing me; I am in a condition
+which makes that criminal which might be lawful at another time;
+decency forbids all commerce between us."  Monsieur de Nemours
+threw himself at her feet, and gave a loose to all the violent
+motions with which he was agitated; he expressed both by his
+words and tears the liveliest and most tender passion that ever
+heart was touched with; nor was the heart of Madam de Cleves
+insensible; she looked upon him with eyes swelled with tears: 
+"Why was it," cries she, "that I can charge you with Monsieur
+de Cleves's death?  Why did not my first acquaintance with you
+begin since I have been at liberty, or why did not I know you
+before I was engaged?  Why does fate separate us by such
+invincible obstacles?"  "There are no obstacles, Madam,"
+replied Monsieur de Nemours; "it is you alone oppose my
+happiness; you impose on yourself a law which virtue and reason
+do not require you to obey."  "'Tis true," says she, "I
+sacrifice a great deal to a duty which does not subsist but in my
+imagination; have patience, and expect what time may produce;
+Monsieur de Cleves is but just expired, and that mournful object
+is too near to leave me clear and distinct views; in the meantime
+enjoy the satisfaction to know you have gained the heart of a
+person who would never have loved anyone, had she not seen you:
+believe the inclination I have for you will last forever, and
+that it will be uniform and the same, whatever becomes of me:
+Adieu," said she; "this is a conversation I ought to blush for;
+however, give an account of it to the Viscount; I agree to it,
+and desire you to do it."
+
+With these words she went away, nor could Monsieur de Nemours
+detain her.  In the next room she met with the Viscount, who
+seeing her under so much concern would not speak to her, but led
+her to her coach without saying a word; he returned to Monsieur
+de Nemours, who was so full of joy, grief, admiration, and of all
+those affections that attend a passion full of hope and fear,
+that he had not the use of his reason.  It was a long time ere
+the Viscount could get from him an account of the conversation;
+at last the Duke related it to him, and Monsieur de Chartres,
+without being in love, no less admired the virtue, wit and merit
+of Madam de Cleves, than did Monsieur de Nemours himself; they
+began to examine what issue could reasonably be hoped for in this
+affair; and however fearful the Duke de Nemours was from his
+love, he agreed with the Viscount, that it was impossible Madam
+de Cleves should continue in the resolution she was in; they were
+of opinion nevertheless that it was necessary to follow her
+orders, for fear, upon the public's perceiving the inclination he
+had for her, she should make declarations and enter into
+engagements with respect to the world, that she would afterwards
+abide by, lest it should be thought she loved him in her
+husband's lifetime.
+
+Monsieur de Nemours determined to follow the King; it was a
+journey he could not well excuse himself from, and so he resolved
+to go without endeavouring to see Madam de Cleves again from the
+window out of which he had sometimes seen her; he begged the
+Viscount to speak to her; and what did he not desire him to say
+in his behalf?  What an infinite number of reasons did he furnish
+him with, to persuade her to conquer her scruples?  In short,
+great part of the night was spent before he thought of going
+away.
+
+As for Madam de Cleves, she was in no condition to rest; it was a
+thing so new to her to have broke loose from the restraints she
+had laid on herself, to have endured the first declarations of
+love that ever were made to her, and to have confessed that she
+herself was in love with him that made them, all this was so new
+to her, that she seemed quite another person; she was surprised
+at what she had done; she repented of it; she was glad of it; all
+her thoughts were full of anxiety and passion; she examined again
+the reasons of her duty, which obstructed her happiness; she was
+grieved to find them so strong, and was sorry that she had made
+them out so clear to Monsieur de Nemours: though she had
+entertained thoughts of marrying him, as soon as she beheld him
+in the garden of the suburbs, yet her late conversation with him
+made a much greater impression on her mind; at some moments she
+could not comprehend how she could be unhappy by marrying him,
+and she was ready to say in her heart, that her scruples as to
+what was past, and her fears for the future, were equally
+groundless: at other times, reason and her duty prevailed in her
+thoughts, and violently hurried her into a resolution not to
+marry again, and never to see Monsieur de Nemours; but this was a
+resolution hard to be established in a heart so softened as hers,
+and so lately abandoned to the charms of love.  At last, to give
+herself a little ease, she concluded that it was not yet
+necessary to do herself the violence of coming to any resolution,
+and decency allowed her a considerable time to determine what to
+do: however she resolved to continue firm in having no commerce
+with Monsieur de Nemours.  The Viscount came to see her, and
+pleaded his friend's cause with all the wit and application
+imaginable, but could not make her alter her conduct, or recall
+the severe orders she had given to Monsieur de Nemours; she told
+him her design was not to change her condition; that she knew how
+difficult it was to stand to that design, but that she hoped she
+should be able to do it; she made him so sensible how far she was
+affected with the opinion that Monsieur de Nemours was the cause
+of her husband's death, and how much she was convinced that it
+would be contrary to her duty to marry him, that the Viscount was
+afraid it would be very difficult to take away those impressions;
+he did not, however, tell the Duke what he thought, when he gave
+him an account of his conversation with her, but left him as much
+hope as a man who is loved may reasonably have.
+
+They set out the next day, and went after the King; the Viscount
+wrote to Madam de Cleves at Monsieur de Nemours's request, and in
+a second letter, which soon followed the first, the Duke wrote a
+line or two in his own hand; but Madam de Cleves determined not
+to depart from the rules she had prescribed herself, and fearing
+the accidents that might happen from letters, informed the
+Viscount that she would receive his letters no more, if he
+continued to speak of Monsieur de Nemours, and did it in so
+peremptory a manner, that the Duke desired him not to mention
+him.
+
+During the absence of the Court, which was gone to conduct the
+Queen of Spain as far as Poitou, Madam de Cleves continued at
+home; and the more distant she was from Monsieur de Nemours, and
+from everything that could put her in mind of him, the more she
+recalled the memory of the Prince of Cleves, which she made it
+her glory to preserve; the reasons she had not to marry the Duke
+de Nemours appeared strong with respect to her duty, but
+invincible with respect to her quiet; the opinion she had, that
+marriage would put an end to his love, and the torments of
+jealousy, which she thought the infallible consequences of
+marriage, gave her the prospect of a certain unhappiness if she
+consented to his desires; on the other hand, she thought it
+impossible, if he were present, to refuse the most amiable man in
+the world, the man who loved her, and whom she loved, and to
+oppose him in a thing that was neither inconsistent with virtue
+nor decency: she thought that nothing but absence and distance
+could give her the power to do it; and she found she stood in
+need of them, not only to support her resolution not to marry,
+but even to keep her from seeing Monsieur de Nemours; she
+resolved therefore to take a long journey, in order to pass away
+the time which decency obliged her to spend in retirement; the
+fine estate she had near the Pyrenees seemed the most proper
+place she could make choice of; she set out a few days before the
+Court returned, and wrote at parting to the Viscount to conjure
+him not to think of once enquiring after her, or of writing to her.
+
+Monsieur de Nemours was as much troubled at this journey as
+another would have been for the death of his mistress; the
+thought of being deprived so long a time of the sight of Madam de
+Cleves grieved him to the soul, especially as it happened at a
+time when he had lately enjoyed the pleasure of seeing her, and
+of seeing her moved by his passion; however he could do nothing
+but afflict himself, and his affliction increased every day. 
+Madam de Cleves, whose spirits had been so much agitated, was no
+sooner arrived at her country seat, but she fell desperately ill;
+the news of it was brought to Court; Monsieur de Nemours was
+inconsolable; his grief proceeded even to despair and
+extravagance; the Viscount had much a-do to hinder him from
+discovering his passion in public, and as much a-do to keep him
+from going in person to know how she did; the relation and
+friendship between her and the Viscount served as an excuse for
+sending frequent messengers; at last they heard she was out of
+the extremity of danger she had been in, but continued in a
+languishing malady that left but little hopes of life.
+
+The nature of her disease gave her a prospect of death both near,
+and at a distance, and showed her the things of this life in a
+very different view from that in which they are seen by people in
+health; the necessity of dying, to which she saw herself so near,
+taught her to wean herself from the world, and the lingeringness
+of her distemper brought her to a habit in it; yet when she was a
+little recovered, she found that Monsieur de Nemours was not
+effaced from her heart; but to defend herself against him, she
+called to her aid all the reasons which she thought she had never
+to marry him; after a long conflict in herself, she subdued the
+relics of that passion which had been weakened by the sentiments
+her illness had given her; the thoughts of death had reproached
+her with the memory of Monsieur de Cleves, and this remembrance
+was so agreeable to her duty, that it made deep impressions in
+her heart; the passions and engagements of the world appeared to
+her in the light, in which they appear to persons who have more
+great and more distant views.  The weakness of her body, which
+was brought very low, aided her in preserving these sentiments;
+but as she knew what power opportunities have over the wisest
+resolutions, she would not hazard the breach of those she had
+taken, by returning into any place where she might see him she
+loved; she retired, under pretence of change of air, into a
+convent, but without declaring a settled resolution of quitting
+the Court.
+
+Upon the first news of it, Monsieur de Nemours felt the weight of
+this retreat, and saw the importance of it; he presently thought
+he had nothing more to hope, but omitted not anything that might
+oblige her to return; he prevailed with the Queen to write; he
+made the Viscount not only write, but go to her, but all to no
+purpose; the Viscount saw her, but she did not tell him she had
+fixed her resolution; and yet he judged, she would never return
+to Court; at last Monsieur de Nemours himself went to her, under
+pretence of using the waters; she was extremely grieved and
+surprised to hear he was come, and sent him word by a person of
+merit about her, that she desired him not to take it ill if she
+did not expose herself to the danger of seeing him, and of
+destroying by his presence those sentiments she was obliged to
+preserve; that she desired he should know, that having found it
+both against her duty and peace of mind to yield to the
+inclination she had to be his, all things else were become so
+indifferent to her, that she had renounced them for ever; that
+she thought only of another life, and had no sentiment remaining
+as to this, but the desire of seeing him in the same dispositions
+she was in.
+
+Monsieur de Nemours was like to have expired in the presence of
+the lady who told him this; he begged her a thousand times to
+return to Madam de Cleves, and to get leave for him to see her;
+but she told him the Princess had not only forbidden her to come
+back with any message from him, but even to report the
+conversation that should pass between them.  At length Monsieur
+de Nemours was obliged to go back, oppressed with the heaviest
+grief a man is capable of, who has lost all hopes of ever seeing
+again a person, whom  he loved not only with the most violent,
+but most natural and sincere passion that ever was; yet still he
+was not utterly discouraged, but used all imaginable methods to
+make her alter her resolution; at last, after several years, time
+and absence abated his grief, and extinguished his passion. 
+Madam de Cleves lived in a manner that left no probability of her
+ever returning to Court; she spent one part of the year in that
+religious house, and the other at her own, but still continued
+the austerity of retirement, and constantly employed herself in
+exercises more holy than the severest convents can pretend to;
+and her life, though it was short, left examples of inimitable virtues.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Princess of Cleves
+
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