A few days after the King's death, it was resolved the new King shouldgo to Rheims to be crowned. As soon as this journey was talked of,Madam de Cleves, who had stayed at home all this while under pretenceof illness, entreated her husband to dispense with her following theCourt, and to give her leave to go to take the air at Colomiers for herhealth: he answered, that whether her health was the reason or not ofher desire, however he consented to it: nor was it very difficult forhim to consent to a thing he had resolved upon before: as good anopinion as he had of his wife's virtue, he thought it imprudent toexpose her any longer to the sight of a man she was in love with.
The Duke de Nemours was soon informed that Madam de Cleves was not togo along with the Court; he could not find in his heart to set outwithout seeing her, and therefore the night before his journey he wentto her house as late as decency would allow him, in order to find heralone. Fortune favoured his intention and Madam de Nevers and Madamde Martigues, whom he met in the Court as they were coming out,informed him they had left her alone. He went up in a concern andferment of mind to be paralleled only by that which Madam de Cleves wasunder, when she was told the Duke de Nemours was come to see her; thefear lest he should speak to her of his passion, and lest she shouldanswer him too favourably, the uneasiness this visit might give herhusband, the difficulty of giving him an account of it, or ofconcealing it from him, all these things presented themselves to herimagination at once, and threw her into so great an embarrassment, thatshe resolved to avoid the thing of the world which perhaps she wishedfor the most. She sent one of her women to the Duke de Nemours, whowas in her anti-chamber, to tell him that she had lately been very ill,and that she was sorry she could not receive the honour which hedesigned her. What an affliction was it to the Duke, not to see Madamde Cleves, and therefore not to see her, because she had no mind heshould! He was to go away the next morning, and had nothing further tohope from fortune. He had said nothing to her since that conversationat the Queen-Dauphin's apartments, and he had reason to believe thathis imprudence in telling the Viscount his adventure had destroyed allhis expectations; in a word, he went away with everything that couldexasperate his grief.
No sooner was Madam de Cleves recovered from the confusion which thethought of receiving a visit from the Duke had given her, but all thereasons which had made her refuse it vanished; she was even satisfiedshe had been to blame; and had she dared, or had it not been too late,she would have had him called back.
Madam de Nevers and Madam de Martigues went from the Princess of Clevesto the Queen-Dauphin's, where they found Monsieur de Cleves: theQueen-Dauphin asked them from whence they came; they said they camefrom Madam de Cleves, where they had spent part of the afternoon with agreat deal of company, and that they had left nobody there but the Dukede Nemours. These words, which they thought so indifferent, were notsuch with Monsieur de Cleves: though he might well imagine the Duke deNemours had frequent opportunities of speaking to his wife, yet thethought that he was now with her, that he was there alone, and that hemight speak to her of his life, appeared to him at this time a thing sonew and insupportable, that jealousy kindled in his heart with greaterviolence than ever. It was impossible for him to stay at the Queen's;he returned from thence, without knowing why he returned, or if hedesigned to go and interrupt the Duke de Nemours: he was no sooner comehome, but he looked about him to see if there was anything by which hecould judge if the Duke was still there; it was some comfort to him tofind he was gone, and it was a pleasure to reflect that he could nothave been long there: he fancied, that, perhaps, it was not the Duke deNemours of whom he had reason to be jealous; and though he did notdoubt of it, yet he endeavoured to doubt of it; but he was convinced ofit by so many circumstances, that he continued not long in thatpleasing uncertainty. He immediately went into his wife's room, andafter having talked to her for some time about indifferent matters, hecould not forbear asking her what she had done, and who she had seen,and accordingly she gave him an account: when he found she did not namethe Duke de Nemours he asked her trembling, if those were all she hadseen, in order to give her an occasion to name the Duke, and that hemight not have the grief to see she made use of any evasion. As shehad not seen him, she did not name him; when Monsieur de Cleves withaccents of sorrow, said, "And have you not seen the Duke de Nemours, orhave you forgot him?" "I have not seen him indeed," answered she; "Iwas ill, and I sent one of my women to make my excuses." "You was illthen only for him," replied Monsieur de Cleves, "since you admitted thevisits of others: why this distinction with respect to the Duke deNemours? Why is not he to you as another man? Why should you beafraid of seeing him? Why do you let him perceive that you are so? Whydo you show him that you make use of the power which his passion givesyou over him? Would you dare refuse to see him, but that you knew hedistinguishes your rigour from incivility? But why should you exercisethat rigour towards him? From a person like you, all things arefavours, except indifference." "I did not think," replied Madam deCleves, "whatever suspicions you have of the Duke de Nemours, that youcould reproach me for not admitting a visit from him." "But I doreproach you, Madam," replied he, "and I have good ground for so doing;why should you not see him, if he has said nothing to you? but Madam,he has spoke to you; if his passion had been expressed only by silence,it would not have made so great an impression upon you; you have notthought fit to tell me the whole truth; you have concealed the greatestpart from me; you have repented even of the little you haveacknowledged, and you have not the resolution to go on I am moreunhappy than I imagined, more unhappy than any other man in the world:you are my wife, I love you as my mistress, and I see you at the sametime in love with another, with the most amiable man of the Court, andhe sees you every day, and knows you are in love with him: Alas! Ibelieved that you would conquer your passion for him, but sure I hadlost my reason when I believed it was possible." "I don't know,"replied Madam de Cleves very sorrowfully, "whether you was to blame injudging favourably of so extraordinary a proceeding as mine; nor do Iknow if I was not mistaken when I thought you would do me justice.""Doubt it not, Madam," replied Monsieur de Cleves, "you was mistaken;you expected from me things as impossible as those I expected from you:how could you hope I should continue master of my reason? Had youforgot that I was desperately in love with you, and that I was yourhusband? Either of these two circumstances is enough to hurry a maninto extremities; what may they not do both together? Alas! What dothey not do? My thoughts are violent and uncertain, and I am not ableto control them; I no longer think myself worthy of you, nor do I thinkyou are worthy of me; I adore you, I hate you, I offend you, I ask yourpardon, I admire you, I blush for my admiration: in a word, I havenothing of tranquillity or reason left about me: I wonder how I havebeen able to live since you spoke to me at Colomiers, and since youlearned, from what the Queen-Dauphin told you, that your adventure wasknown; I can't discover how it came to be known, nor what passedbetween the Duke de Nemours and you upon the subject; you will neverexplain it to me, nor do I desire you to do it; I only desire you toremember that you have made me the most unfortunate, the most wretchedof men."
Having spoke these words, Monsieur de Cleves left his wife, and set outthe next day without seeing her; but he wrote her a letter full ofsorrow, and at the same time very kind and obliging: she gave an answerto it so moving and so full of assurances both as to her past andfuture conduct, that as those assurances were grounded in truth, andwere the real effect of her sentiments, the letter made greatimpressions on Monsieur de Cleves, and gave him some tranquillity; addto this that the Duke de Nemours going to the King as well as himself,he had the satisfaction to know that he would not be in the same placewith Madam de Cleves. Everytime that lady spoke to her husband, thepassion he expressed for her, the handsomeness of his behaviour, thefriendship she had for him, and the thought of what she owed him, madeimpressions in her heart that weakened the idea of the Duke de Nemours;but it did not continue long, that idea soon returned more lively thanbefore.
For a few days after the Duke was gone, she was hardly sensible of hisabsence; afterwards it tortured her; ever since she had been in lovewith him, there did not pass a day, but she either feared or wished tomeet him, and it was a wounding thought to her to consider that it wasno more in the power of fortune to contrive their meeting.
She went to Colomiers, and ordered to be carried thither the largepictures she had caused to be copied from the originals which theDuchess of Valentinois had procured to be drawn for her fine house ofAnnett. All the remarkable actions that had passed in the late King'sreign were represented in these pieces, and among the rest was theSiege of Mets, and all those who had distinguished themselves at thatSiege were painted much to the life. The Duke de Nemours was of thisnumber, and it was that perhaps which had made Madam de Cleves desirousof having the pictures.
Madam de Martigues not being able to go along with the Court, promisedher to come and pass some days at Colomiers. Though they divided theQueen's favour, they lived together without envy or coldness; they werefriends, but not confidants; Madam de Cleves knew that Madam deMartigues was in love with the Viscount, but Madam de Martigues did notknow that Madam de Cleves was in love with the Duke de Nemours, northat she was beloved by him. The relation Madam de Cleves had to theViscount made her more dear to Madam de Martigues, and Madam de Cleveswas also fond of her as a person who was in love as well as herself,and with an intimate friend of her own lover.
Madam de Martigues came to Colomiers according to her promise, andfound Madam de Cleves living in a very solitary manner: that Princessaffected a perfect solitude, and passed the evenings in her gardenwithout being accompanied even by her domestics; she frequently cameinto the pavilion where the Duke de Nemours had overheard herconversation with her husband; she delighted to be in the bower thatwas open to the garden, while her women and attendants waited in theother bower under the pavilion, and never came to her but when shecalled them. Madam de Martigues having never seen Colomiers wassurprised at the extraordinary beauty of it, and particularly with thepleasantness of the pavilion. Madam de Cleves and she usually passedthe evenings there. The liberty of being alone in the night in soagreeable a place would not permit the conversation to end soon betweentwo young ladies, whose hearts were enflamed with violent passions, andthey took great pleasure in conversing together, though they were notconfidants.
Madam de Martigues would have left Colomiers with great reluctance hadshe not quitted it to go to a place where the Viscount was; she set outfor Chambort, the Court being there.
The King had been anointed at Rheims by the Cardinal of Loraine, andthe design was to pass the rest of the summer at the castle ofChambort, which was newly built; the Queen expressed a great deal ofjoy upon seeing Madam de Martigues again at Court, and after havinggiven her several proofs of it, she asked her how Madam de Cleves did,and in what manner she passed her time in the country. The Duke deNemours and the Prince of Cleves were with the Queen at that time.Madam de Martigues, who had been charmed with Colomiers, related allthe beauties of it, and enlarged extremely on the description of thepavilion in the forest, and on the pleasure Madam de Cleves took inwalking there alone part of the night. The Duke de Nemours, who knewthe place well enough to understand what Madam de Martigues said of it,thought it was not impossible to see Madam de Cleves there, withoutbeing seen by anybody but her. He asked Madam de Martigues somequestions to get further lights; and the Prince of Cleves, who had eyedhim very strictly while Madam de Martigues was speaking, thought heknew what his design was. The questions the Duke asked still moreconfirmed him in that thought, so that he made no doubt but hisintention was to go and see his wife; he was not mistaken in hissuspicions: this design entered so deeply into the Duke de Nemours'smind, that after having spent the night in considering the propermethods to execute it, he went betimes the next morning to ask theKing's leave to go to Paris, on some pretended occasion.
Monsieur de Cleves was in no doubt concerning the occasion of hisjourney; and he resolved to inform himself as to his wife's conduct,and to continue no longer in so cruel an uncertainty; he had a desireto set out the same time as the Duke de Nemours did, and to hidehimself where he might discover the success of the journey; but fearinghis departure might appear extraordinary, and lest the Duke, beingadvertised of it, might take other measures, he resolved to trust thisbusiness to a gentleman of his, whose fidelity and wit he was assuredof; he related to him the embarrassment he was under, and what thevirtue of his wife had been till that time, and ordered him to followthe Duke de Nemours, to watch him narrowly, to see if he did not go toColomiers, and if he did not enter the garden in the night.
The gentleman, who was very capable of this commission, acquittedhimself of it with all the exactness imaginable. He followed the Duketo a village within half a league of Colomiers, where the Duke stoppedand the gentleman easily guessed his meaning was to stay there tillnight. He did not think it convenient to wait there, but passed on,and placed himself in that part of the forest where he thought the Dukewould pass: he took his measures very right; for it was no sooner nightbut he heard somebody coming that way, and though it was dark, heeasily knew the Duke de Nemours; he saw him walk round the garden, aswith a design to listen if he could hear anybody, and to choose themost convenient place to enter: the palisades were very high anddouble, in order to prevent people from coming in, so that it was verydifficult for the Duke to get over, however he made a shift to do it.He was no sooner in the garden but he discovered where Madam de Cleveswas; he saw a great light in the bower, all the windows of it wereopen; upon this, slipping along by the side of the palisades, he cameup close to it, and one may easily judge what were the emotions of hisheart at that instant: he took his station behind one of the windows,which served him conveniently to see what Madam de Cleves was doing.He saw she was alone; he saw her so inimitably beautiful, that he couldscarce govern the transports which that sight gave him: the weather washot, her head and neck were uncovered, and her hair hung carelesslyabout her. She lay on a couch with a table before her, on which wereseveral baskets full of ribbons, out of which she chose some, and heobserved she chose those colours which he wore at the tournament; hesaw 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 hadfinished her work with the sweetest grace imaginable, the sentiments ofher heart showing themselves in her countenance, she took a wax candleand came to a great table over against the picture of the Siege ofMets, in which was the portrait of the Duke de Nemours; she sat downand set herself to look upon that portrait, with an attention andthoughtfulness which love only can give.
It is impossible to express what Monsieur de Nemours felt at thismoment; to see, at midnight, in the finest place in the world, a ladyhe adored, to see her without her knowing that he saw her, and to findher wholly taken up with things that related to him, and to the passionwhich she concealed from him; this is what was never tasted norimagined by any other lover.
The Duke was so transported and beside himself, that he continuedmotionless, with his eyes fixed on Madam de Cleves, without thinkinghow precious his time was; when he was a little recovered, he thoughtit best not to speak to her till she came into the garden, and heimagined he might do it there with more safety, because she would be ata 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 washis confusion how fearful was he of displeasing her, and of changingthat countenance, where so much sweetness dwelt, into looks of angerand resentment!
To come to see Madam de Cleves without being seen by her had noimpudence in it, but to think of showing himself appeared very unwise;a thousand things now came into his mind which he had not thought ofbefore; it carried in it somewhat extremely bold and extravagant, tosurprise in the middle of the night a person to whom he had never yetspoke of his passion. He thought he had no reason
to expect she wouldhear him, but that she would justly resent the danger to which heexposed her, by accidents which might rise from this attempt; all hiscourage left him, and he was several times upon the point of resolvingto go back again without showing himself; yet urged by the desire ofspeaking to her, and heartened by the hopes which everything he hadseen gave him, he advanced some steps, but in such disorder, that ascarf he had on entangled in the window, and made a noise. Madam deCleves turned about, and whether her fancy was full of him, or that shestood in a place so directly to the light that she might know him, shethought it was he, and without the least hesitation or turning towardsthe place where he was, she entered the bower where her women were. Onher entering she was in such disorder, that to conceal it she wasforced to say she was ill; she said it too in order to employ herpeople about her, and to give the Duke time to retire. When she hadmade some reflection, she thought she had been deceived, and that herfancying she saw Monsieur de Nemours was only the effect ofimagination. She knew he was at Chambort; she saw no probability ofhis engaging in so hazardous an enterprise; she had a desire severaltimes to re-enter the bower, and to see if there was anybody in thegarden. She wished perhaps as much as she feared to find the Duke deNemours there; but at last reason and prudence prevailed over her otherthoughts, and she found it better to continue in the doubt she was in,than to run the hazard of satisfying herself about it; she was a longtime ere she could resolve to leave a place to which she thought theDuke was so near, and it was almost daybreak when she returned to thecastle.
The Duke de Nemours stayed in the garden, as long as there was anylight; he was not without hopes of seeing Madam de Cleves again, thoughhe was convinced that she knew him, and that she went away only toavoid him; but when he found the doors were shut, he knew he hadnothing more to hope; he went to take horse near the place whereMonsieur de Cleves's gentleman was watching him; this gentlemanfollowed him to the same village, where he had left him in the evening.The Duke resolved to stay there all the day, in order to return atnight to Colomiers, to see if Madam de Cleves would yet have thecruelty to shun him or not expose herself to view: though he was verymuch pleased to find himself so much in her thoughts, yet was heextremely grieved at the same time to see her so naturally bent toavoid him.
Never was passion so tender and so violent as that of Monsieur deNemours; he walked under the willows, along a little brook which ranbehind the house, where he lay concealed; he kept himself as much outof the way as possible, that he might not be seen by anybody; heabandoned himself to the transports of his love, and his heart was sofull of tenderness, that he was forced to let fall some tears, butthose tears were such as grief alone could not shed; they had a mixtureof sweetness and pleasure in them which is to be found only in love.
He set himself to recall to mind all the actions of Madam de Clevesever since he had been in love with her; her cruelty and rigour, andthat modesty and decency of behaviour she had always observed towardshim, though she loved him; "For, after all, she loves me," said he,"she loves me, I cannot doubt of it, the deepest engagements and thegreatest favours are not more certain proofs than those I have had. Inthe meantime, I am treated with the same rigour as if I were hated; Ihoped something from time, but I have no reason to expect it anylonger; I see her always equally on her guard against me and againstherself; if I were not loved, I should make it my business to please;but I do please; she loves me, and tries to hide it from me. What haveI then to hope, and what change am I to expect in my fortune? though Iam loved by the most amiable person in the world, I am under thatexcess of passion which proceeds from the first certainty of beingloved by her, only to make me more sensible of being ill used; let mesee that you love me, fair Princess," cried he, "make me acquaintedwith your sentiments; provided I know them once in my life from you, Iam content that you resume for ever the cruelties with which youoppress me; look upon me at least with the same eyes with which I sawyou look that night upon my picture; could you behold that with suchsweet complacency, and yet avoid me with so much cruelty? What are youafraid of? Why does my love appear so terrible to you? You love me,and you endeavour in vain to conceal it; you have even given meinvoluntary proofs of it; I know my happiness, permit me to enjoy it,and cease to make me unhappy. Is it possible I should be loved by thePrincess of Cleves, and yet be unhappy? how beautiful was she lastnight? how could I forbear throwing myself at her feet? If I had doneit, I might perhaps have hindered her from shunning me, my respectfulbehaviour would have removed her fears; but perhaps, after all, she didnot know it was I; I afflict myself more than I need; she was onlyfrightened to see a man at so unseasonable an hour."
These thoughts employed the Duke de Nemours all the day; he wishedimpatiently for the night, and as soon as it came he returned toColomiers. Monsieur de Cleves's gentleman, who was disguised that hemight be less observed, followed him to the place to which he hadfollowed him the evening before, and saw him enter the garden again.The Duke soon perceived that Madam de Cleves had not run the risk ofhis making another effort to see her, the doors being all shut; helooked about on all sides to see if he could discover any light, but hesaw none.
Madam de Cleves, suspecting he might return, continued in her chamber;she had reason to apprehend she should not always have the power toavoid him, and she would not submit herself to the hazard of speakingto him in a manner that would have been unsuitable to the conduct shehad hitherto observed.
Monsieur de Nemours, though he had no hopes of seeing her, could notfind in his heart soon to leave a place where she so often was; hepassed the whole night in the garden, and found some pleasure at leastin seeing the same objects which she saw every day; it was near sunrisebefore he thought of retiring; but as last the fear of being discoveredobliged him to go away.
It was impossible for him to return to Court without seeing Madam deCleves; he made a visit to his sister the Duchess of Mercoeur, at herhouse near Colomiers. She was extremely surprised at her brother'sarrival; but he invented so probable a pretence for his journey, andconducted his plot so skilfully, that he drew her to make the firstproposal herself of visiting Madam de Cleves. This proposal wasexecuted that very day, and Monsieur de Nemours told his sister, thathe would leave her at Colomiers, in order to go directly to the King;he formed this pretence of leaving her at Colomiers in hopes she wouldtake her leave before him, and he thought he had found out by thatmeans an infallible way of speaking to Madam de Cleves.
The Princess of Cleves, when they arrived, was walking in her gardenthe sight of Monsieur de Nemours gave her no small uneasiness, and puther out of doubt that it was he she had seen the foregoing night. Thecertainty of his having done so bold and imprudent a thing gave hersome little resentment against him, and the Duke observed an air ofcoldness in her face, which sensibly grieved him; the conversationturned upon indifferent matters, and yet he had the skill all the whileto show so much wit, complaisance, and admiration for Madam de Cleves,that part of the coldness she expressed towards him at first left herin spite of herself.
When his fears were over and he began to take heart, he showed anextreme curiosity to see the pavilion in the forest; he spoke of it asof the most agreeable place in the world, and gave so exact adescription of it, that Madam de Mercoeur said he must needs have beenthere several times to know all the particular beauties of it so well."And yet, I don't believe," replied Madam de Cleves, "that the Duke deNemours was ever there; it has been finished but a little while." "Itis not long since I was there," replied the Duke, looking upon her,"and I don't know if I ought not to be glad you have forgot you saw methere." Madam de Mercoeur, being taken up in observing the beauties ofthe gardens, did not attend to what her brother said; Madam de Clevesblushed, and with her eyes cast down, without looking on Monsieur deNemours, "I don't remember," said she, "to have seen you there; and ifyou have been there, it was without my knowledge." "It is true,Madam," replied he, "I was there without your orders, and I passedthere the most sweet and cruel moments of my life." br />
Madam de Cleves understood very well what he said, but made him noanswer; her care was to prevent Madam de Mercoeur from going into thebower, because the Duke de Nemours's picture was there, and she had nomind she should see it; she managed the matter so well, that the timepassed away insensibly, and Madam de Mercoeur began to talk of goinghome: but when Madam de Cleves found that the Duke and his sister didnot go together, she plainly saw to what she was going to be exposed;she found herself under the same embarrassment she was in at Paris, andtook also the same resolution her fear, lest this visit should be afurther confirmation of her husband's suspicions, did not a littlecontribute to determine her; and to the end Monsieur de Nemours mightnot remain alone with her, she told Madam de Mercoeur she would waitupon her to the borders of the forest, and ordered her chariot to begot ready. The Duke was struck with such a violent grief to find thatMadam de Cleves still continued to exercise the same rigours towardshim, that he turned pale that moment. Madam de Mercoeur asked him if hewas ill, but he looked upon Madam de Cleves without being perceived byanybody else, and made her sensible by his looks that he had no otherillness besides despair: however, there was no remedy but he must letthem go together without daring to follow them; after what he had toldhis sister, that he was to go directly to Court, he could not returnwith her, but went to Paris, and set out from thence the next day.
Monsieur de Cleves's gentleman had observed him all the while; hereturned also to Paris, and when he found Monsieur de Nemours was setout for Chambort, he took post to get thither before him, and to givean account of his journey; his master expected his return withimpatience, as if the happiness or unhappiness of his life dependedupon it.
As soon as he saw him, he judged from his countenance and his silence,that the news he brought was very disagreeable; he was struck withsorrow, and continued some time with his head hung down, without beingable to speak; at last he made signs with his hand to him to withdraw;"Go," says he, "I see what you have to say to me, but I have not thepower to hear it." "I can acquaint you with nothing," said thegentleman, "upon which one can form any certain judgment; it is true,the Duke de Nemours went two nights successively into the garden in theforest, and the day after he was at Colomiers with the Duchess ofMercoeur." "'Tis enough," replied Monsieur de Cleves, still makingsigns to him to withdraw, "'tis enough; I want no further information."The gentleman was forced to leave his master, abandoned to his despair;nor ever was despair more violent. Few men of so high a spirit, and sopassionately in love, as the Prince of Cleves, have experienced at thesame time the grief arising from the falsehood of a mistress, and theshame of being deceived by a wife.
Monsieur de Cleves could set no bounds to his affliction he felt illof a fever that very night, and his distemper was accompanied with suchill symptoms that it was thought very dangerous. Madam de Cleves wasinformed of it, and came in all haste to him; when she arrived, he wasstill worse; besides, she observed something in him so cold andchilling with respect to her, that she was equally surprised andgrieved at it; he even seemed to receive with pain the services she didhim in his sickness, but at last she imagined it was perhaps only theeffect of his distemper.
When she was come to Blois where the Court then was, the Duke deNemours was overjoyed to think she was at the same place where he was;he endeavoured to see her, and went every day to the Prince of Cleves'sunder pretence of enquiring how he did, but it was to no purpose; shedid not stir out of her husband's room, and was grieved at heart forthe condition he was in. It vexed Monsieur de Nemours to see her undersuch affliction, an affliction which he plainly saw revived thefriendship she had for Monsieur de Cleves, and diverted the passionthat lay kindling in her heart. The thought of this shocked himseverely for some time; but the extremity, to which Monsieur deCleves's sickness was grown, opened to him a scene of new hopes; he sawit was probable that Madam de Cleves would be at liberty to follow herown inclinations, and that he might expect for the future a series ofhappiness and lasting pleasures; he could not support the ecstasy ofthat thought, a thought so full of transport! he banished it out of hismind for fear of becoming doubly wretched, if he happened to bedisappointed in his hopes.
In the meantime Monsieur de Cleves was almost given over by hisphysicians. One of the last days of his illness, after having had avery bad night, he said in the morning, he had a desire to sleep; butMadam de Cleves, who remained alone in his chamber, found that insteadof taking repose he was extremely restless; she came to him, and fellon her knees by his bedside, her face all covered with tears; andthough Monsieur de Cleves had taken a resolution not to show her theviolent displeasure he had conceived against her, yet the care she tookof him, and the sorrow she expressed, which sometimes he thoughtsincere, and at other times the effect of her dissimulation andperfidiousness, distracted him so violently with opposite sentimentsfull of woe, that he could not forbear giving them vent.
"You shed plenty of tears, Madam," said he, "for a death which you arethe cause of, and which cannot give you the trouble you pretend to bein; I am no longer in a condition to reproach you," added he with avoice weakened by sickness and grief; "I die through the dreadful griefand discontent you have given me; ought so extraordinary an action, asthat of your speaking to me at Colomiers, to have had so littleconsequences? Why did you inform me of your passion for the Duke deNemours, if your virtue was no longer able to oppose it? I loved youto that extremity, I would have been glad to have been deceived, Iconfess it to my shame; I have regretted that pleasing false securityout of which you drew me; why did not you leave me in that blindtranquillity which so many husbands enjoy? I should perhaps have beenignorant all my life, that you was in love with Monsieur de Nemours; Ishall die," added he, "but know that you make death pleasing to me, andthat, after you have taken from me the esteem and affection I had foryou, life would be odious to me. What should I live for? to spend mydays with a person whom I have loved so much, and by whom I have beenso cruelly deceived; or to live apart from her and break out openlyinto violences so opposite to my temper, and the love I had for you?That love, Madam, was far greater than it appeared to you; I concealedthe greatest part of it from you, for fear of being importunate, or oflosing somewhat in your esteem by a behaviour not becoming a husband:in a word, I deserved your affection more than once, and I die withoutregret, since I have not been able to obtain it, and since I can nolonger desire it. Adieu, Madam; you will one day regret a man wholoved you with a sincere and virtuous passion you will feel theanxiety which reasonable persons meet with in intrigue and gallantry,and you will know the difference between such a love as I had for you,and the love of people who only profess admiration for you to gratifytheir vanity in seducing you; but my death will leave you at liberty,and you may make the Duke de Nemours happy without guilt: whatsignifies anything that can happen when I am no more, and why should Ihave the weakness to trouble myself about it?"
Madam de Cleves was so far from imagining that her husband suspectedher virtue, that she heard all this discourse without comprehending themeaning of it, and without having any other notion about it, exceptthat he reproached her for her inclination for the Duke de Nemours; atlast, starting all of a sudden out of her blindness, "I guilty!" criedshe, "I am a stranger to the very thought of guilt; the severest virtuecould not have inspired any other conduct than that which I havefollowed, and I never acted anything but what I could have wished youto have been witness to." "Could you have wished," replied Monsieur deCleves, looking on her with disdain, "I had been a witness of thosenights you passed with Monsieur de Nemours? Ah! Madam; is it you Ispeak of, when I speak of a lady that has passed nights with a man, nother husband?" "No, sir," replied she, "it is not me you speak of; Inever spent a night nor a moment with the Duke de Nemours; he never sawme in private, I never suffered him to do it, nor would give him ahearing. I'll take all the oaths . . ." "Speak no more of it," saidhe interrupting her, "false oaths or a confession would perhaps give meequal pain."
Madam de Cleves could not
answer him; her tears and her grief took awayher speech; at last, struggling for utterance, "Look on me at least,hear me," said she; "if my interest only were concerned I would sufferthese reproaches, but your life is at stake; hear me for your own sake;I am so innocent, truth pleads so strongly for me, it is impossible butI must convince you." "Would to God you could!" cried he; "but what canyou say? the Duke de Nemours, has not he been at Colomiers with hissister? And did not he pass the two foregoing nights with you in thegarden in the forest?" "If that be my crime," replied she, "it is easyto justify myself; I do not desire you to believe me, believe yourservants and domestics; ask them if I went into the garden the eveningbefore Monsieur de Nemours came to Colomiers, and if I did not go out,of it the night before two hours sooner than I used to do." After thisshe told him how she imagined she had seen somebody in the garden, andacknowledged that she believed it to be the Duke de Nemours; she spoketo him with so much confidence, and truth so naturally persuades, evenwhere it is not probable, that Monsieur de Cleves was almost convincedof her innocence. "I don't know," said he, "whether I ought to believeyou; I am so near death, that I would not know anything that might makeme die with reluctance; you have cleared your innocence too late;however it will be a comfort to me to go away with the thought that youare worthy of the esteem I have had for you; I beg you I may be assuredof this further comfort, that my memory will be dear to you, and thatif it had been in your power you would have had for me the same passionwhich you had for another." He would have gone on, but was so weakthat his speech failed him. Madam de Cleves sent for the physicians,who found him almost lifeless; yet he languished some days, and died atlast with admirable constancy.
Madam de Cleves was afflicted to so violent a degree, that she lost ina manner the use of her reason the Queen was so kind as to come to seeher, and carried her to a convent without her being sensible whithershe was conducted; her sisters-in-law brought her back to Paris, beforeshe was in a condition to feel distinctly even her griefs: when she wasrestored to her faculty of thinking, and reflected what a husband shehad lost, and considered that she had caused his death by the passionwhich she had for another, the horror she had for herself and the Dukede Nemours was not to be expressed.