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?




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024