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."




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