Cleves made no scruple after dinner to visit the queen-dauphin; she was in her closet with two or three ladies of her most familiar acquaintance. "We were speaking," said she to her, as soon as she saw her, "of the duke de Nemours, and were admiring how much he's changed since his return from Brussels; before he went there, he had an infinite number of mistresses, and it was his own fault, for he showed an equal regard to those who had merit, and to those who had none; since his return he neither knows the one nor the other; there never was so great a change; I find his humour is changed too, and that he is less gay than he used to be."
The princess of Cleves made no answer; and it shocked her to think she should have taken all that they said of the change in the duke for proofs of his passion for her, had she not been undeceived; she felt in herself some little resentment against the queen-dauphin, for endeavouring to find out reasons, and seeming surprised at a thing, which she probably knew more of than anyone else; she could not forbear showing something of it; and when the other ladies withdrew, she came up and told her in a low voiceAnd is it I, madam, you have been pointing at, and have you a mind to conceal, that you are she who has made such an alteration in the conduct of the duke of Nemours?You do me injustice, answered the Queen-Dauphin; you know I conceal nothing from you; it is true the duke of Nemours, before he went to Brussels, had, I believe, an intention to let me know he did not hate me; but since his return, it has not so much as appeared that he remembers anything of what he has done; and I acknowledge I have a curiosity to know what it is has changed him so: it would not be very difficult for me to unravel this affair, added she; the viscount de Chartres, his intimate friend, is in love with a lady with whom I have some power, and I'll know by that means the occasion of this alteration.The Queen-Dauphin spoke with an air of sincerity which
