"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?"




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