bore to madam de Cleves still made him more dear to him; nevertheless, he could not prevail with himself to run the risk of her having heard of this letter, as of a thing in which he was concerned; he fell into a deep musing, and the viscount guessed pretty near what was the subject of his meditations. I plainly see, said he, that you are afraid of embroiling yourself with your mistress; and I should almost fancy the queen-dauphin was she, if the little jealousy you seem to have of monsieur d'Anville did not take me off from that thought; but be that as it will, it is not reasonable you should sacrifice your repose to mine; and I will put you in a way of convincing her you love, that this letter is directed to me, and not to you: here is a billet from madam d'Amboise, who is a friend of madam de Themines, and was her confidant in the amour between her and me; in this she desires me to send her madam de Themines's letter, which I have lost; my name is on the superscription, and the contents of the billet prove, without question, that the letter she desires is the same with that which has been found; I will leave this billet in your hands, and agree that you may show it to your mistress in your justification; I conjure you not to lose a moment, but to go this morning to the queen-dauphin.
The duke de Nemours promised the viscount he would, and took madam d'Amboise's billet; nevertheless, his design was not to see the queen-dauphin; he thought more pressing business required his care; he made no question, but she had already spoke of the letter to madam de Cleves, and could not bear that a person he loved so desperately, should have ground to believe he had engagements with any other.
He went to the princess of Cleves as soon as he thought she might be awake; and ordered her to be told, that, if he had not business of the last consequence, he would not have desired the honour to see her at so extraordinary an hour. Madam de Cleves was in bed,
