The Viscount de Chartres had not forgot the conversation he had had
with the Duke de Nemours: it still ran in his mind that the adventure
the Duke had related to him was his own; and he observed him so
carefully that it is probable he would have unravelled the business, if
the arrival of the Duke of Alva and of the Duke of Savoy had not made
such an alteration in the Court, and filled it with so much business,
as left no opportunities for a discovery of that nature; the desire he
had to get some information about it, or rather the natural disposition
one has to relate all one knows to those one loves, made him acquaint
Madam de Martigues with the extraordinary action of that person who had
confessed to her husband the passion she had for another; he assured
her the Duke de Nemours was the man who had inspired so violent a love,
and begged her assistance in observing him. Madam de Martigues was
glad to hear what the Viscount told her, and the curiosity she had
always observed in the Queen-Dauphin for what concerned the Duke de
Nemours made her yet more desirous to search into the bottom of the
affair.
A few days before that which was fixed for the ceremony of the
marriage, the Queen-Dauphin entertained at supper the King her
father-in-law, and the Duchess of Valentinois. Madam de Cleves, who
had been busy in dressing herself, went to the Louvre later than
ordinary; as she was going, she met a gentleman that was coming from
the Queen-Dauphin to fetch her; as soon as she entered the room, that
Princess, who was sitting upon her bed, told her aloud, that she had
expected her with great impatience. "I believe, Madam," answered she,
"that I am not obliged to you for it, and that your impatience was
caused by something else, and not your desire to see me." "You are in
the right," answered the Queen-Dauphin, "but, nevertheless, you are
obliged to me; for I'll tell you an adventure, which I am sure you'll
be glad to know."
Madam de Cleves kneeled at her bedside, and, very luckily for her, with
her face from the light: "You know," said the Queen, "how desirous we
have been to find out what had caused so great a change in the Duke de
Nemours; I believe I know it, and it is what will surprise you; he is
desperately in love with, and as much beloved by, one of the finest
ladies of the Court." It is easy to imagine the grief Madam de Cleves
felt upon hearing these words, which she could not apply to herself,
since she thought nobody knew anything of her passion for the Duke; "I
see nothing extraordinary in that," replied she, "considering how young
and handsome a man the Duke de Nemours is." "No," replied the
Queen-Dauphin, "there is nothing extraordinary in it; but what will
surprise you is, that this lady, who is in love with the Duke de
Nemours, has never given him any mark of it, and that the fear she was
in lest she should not always be mistress of her passion, has made her
confess it to her husband, that he may take her away from Court; and it
is the Duke de Nemours himself who has related what I tell you."