The Princess of Cleves had never heard before of the amour between the
Duke de Nemours and the Queen-Dauphin; she was so much surprised at
what her mother had told her, and seemed to see so plainly how she had
been mistaken in her thoughts about the Duke, that she changed
countenance. Madam de Chartres perceived it. Visitors came in that
moment; and the Princess of Cleves retired to her own apartment, and
shut herself up in her closet.
One can't express the grief she felt to discover, by what her mother
had been just saying, the interest her heart had in the Duke de
Nemours; she had not dared as yet to acknowledge it to her secret
thoughts; she then found, that the sentiments she had for him were such
as the Prince of Cleves had required of her; she perceived how shameful
it was to entertain them for another, and not for a husband that
deserved them; she found herself under the utmost embarrassment, and
was dreadfully afraid lest the Duke should make use of her only as a
means to come at the Queen-Dauphin, and it was this thought determined
her to impart to her mother something she had not yet told her.
The next morning she went into her mother's chamber to put her resolves
in execution, but she found Madam de Chartres had some touches of a
fever, and therefore did not think proper to speak to her: this
indisposition however appeared to insignificant, that Madam de Cleves
made no scruple after dinner to visit the Queen-Dauphin; she was in her
closet with two or three ladies of her most familiar acquaintance. "We
were speaking," said she to her, as soon as she saw her, "of the Duke
de Nemours, and were admiring how much he's changed since his return
from Brussels; before he went there, he had an infinite number of
mistresses, and it was his own fault, for he showed an equal regard to
those who had merit, and to those who had none; since his return he
neither knows the one nor the other; there never was so great a change;
I find his humour is changed too, and that he is less gay than he used
to be." The Princess of Cleves made no answer; and it shocked her to think she
should have taken all that they said of the change in the Duke for
proofs of his passion for her, had she not been undeceived; she felt in
herself some little resentment against the Queen-Dauphin, for
endeavouring to find out reasons, and seeming surprised at a thing,
which she probably knew more of than anyone else; she could not forbear
showing something of it; and when the other ladies withdrew, she came
up and told her in a low voice, "And is it I, Madam, you have been
pointing at, and have you a mind to conceal, that you are she who has
made such an alteration in the conduct of the Duke of Nemours?"