"It is true," replied he, "but women are
incomprehensible, and when I have seen them all, I think myself so
happy in having you, that I cannot enough admire my good fortune."
"You esteem me more than I deserve," answered Madam de Cleves, "you
have not had experience enough yet to pronounce me worthy of you; but
tell me, I beseech you, what it is has undeceived you with respect to
Madam de Tournon." "I have been undeceived a great while," replied he,
"and I know that she was in love with the Count de Sancerre, and that
she gave him room to hope she would marry him."
"I can't believe," said Madam de Cleves, "that Madam de Tournon, after so extraordinary an
aversion as she has shown to marriage from the time she became a widow,
and after the public declarations she has made that she would never
marry again, should give hopes to Sancerre."
"If she had given hopes to him only," replied the Prince of Cleves, "the wonder had not been so
great; but what is surprising is, that she gave hopes likewise to
Etouteville at the same time: I'll let you know the whole history of
this matter."