She lay on a couch with a table before her, on which were
several baskets full of ribbons, out of which she chose some, and he
observed she chose those colours which he wore at the tournament; he
saw her make them up into knots for an Indian cane, which had been his,
and which he had given to his sister; Madam de Cleves took it from her,
without seeming to know it had belonged to the Duke. After she had
finished her work with the sweetest grace imaginable, the sentiments of
her heart showing themselves in her countenance, she took a wax candle
and came to a great table over against the picture of the Siege of
Mets, in which was the portrait of the Duke de Nemours; she sat down
and set herself to look upon that portrait, with an attention and
thoughtfulness which love only can give.
It is impossible to express what Monsieur de Nemours felt at this
moment; to see, at midnight, in the finest place in the world, a lady
he adored, to see her without her knowing that he saw her, and to find
her wholly taken up with things that related to him, and to the passion
which she concealed from him; this is what was never tasted nor
imagined by any other lover.
The Duke was so transported and beside himself, that he continued
motionless, with his eyes fixed on Madam de Cleves, without thinking
how precious his time was; when he was a little recovered, he thought
it best not to speak to her till she came into the garden, and he
imagined he might do it there with more safety, because she would be at
a greater distance from her women; but finding she stayed in the bower,
he resolved to go in: when he was upon the point of doing it, what was
his confusion; how fearful was he of displeasing her, and of changing
that countenance, where so much sweetness dwelt, into looks of anger
and resentment!
To come to see Madam de Cleves without being seen by her had no
impudence in it, but to think of showing himself appeared very unwise;
a thousand things now came into his mind which he had not thought of
before; it carried in it somewhat extremely bold and extravagant, to
surprise in the middle of the night a person to whom he had never yet
spoke of his passion. He thought he had no reason to expect she would
hear him, but that she would justly resent the danger to which he
exposed her, by accidents which might rise from this attempt; all his
courage left him, and he was several times upon the point of resolving
to go back again without showing himself; yet urged by the desire of
speaking to her, and heartened by the hopes which everything he had
seen gave him, he advanced some steps, but in such disorder, that a
scarf he had on entangled in the window, and made a noise. Madam de
Cleves turned about, and whether her fancy was full of him, or that she
stood in a place so directly to the light that she might know him, she
thought it was he, and without the least hesitation or turning towards
the place where he was, she entered the bower where her women were.