"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.




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