"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?




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