draw me out of this difficulty"; "I think you must go to the

Queen-Dauphin as soon as she is awake, and ask her for the
letter, as if you had lost it." "I have told you already,"

replied the Duke de Nemours, "that what you propose is somewhat
extraordinary, and that there are difficulties in it which may

affect my own particular interest; but besides, if this letter
has been seen to drop out of your pocket, I should think it would

be hard to persuade people that it dropped out of mine." "I
thought I had told you," replied the Viscount, "that the

Queen-Dauphin had been informed that you dropped it." "How,"
said the Duke de Nemours hastily, apprehending the ill

consequence this mistake might be of to him with Madam de Cleves,
"has the Queen-Dauphin been told I dropped the letter?"

"Yes," replied the Viscount, "she has been told so; and what
occasioned the mistake was, that there were several gentlemen of

the two Queens in a room belonging to the tennis court, where our
clothes were put up, when your servants and mine went together to

fetch them; then it was the letter fell out of the pocket; those
gentlemen took it up, and read it aloud; some believed it

belonged to you, and others to me; Chatelart, who took it, and to
whom I have just sent for it, says, he gave it to the

Queen-Dauphin as a letter of yours; and those who have spoken of
it to the Queen have unfortunately told her it was mine; so that

you may easily do what I desire of you, and free me from this
perplexity."

The Duke de Nemours had always had a great friendship for the
Viscount de Chartres, and the relation he 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'll 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'll 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, and her mind was tossed to and fro by a thousand
melancholy thoughts that she had had during the night; she was

extremely surprised to hear the Duke de Nemours asked for her;
the anxiety she was in made her presently answer, that she was

ill, and could not speak with him.
The Duke was not at all shocked at this refusal; he thought it

presaged him no ill, that she expressed a little coldness at a
time when she might be touched with jealousy. He went to the

Prince of Cleves's apartment, and told him he came from that of
his lady, and that he was very sorry he could not see her,

because he had an affair to communicate to her of great
consequence to the Viscount de Chartres; he explained in few

words to the Prince the importance of this business, and the
Prince immediately introduced him into his lady's chamber. Had

she not been in the dark, she would have found it hard to have
concealed the trouble and astonishment she was in to see the Duke

de Nemours introduced by her husband. Monsieur de Cleves told
her the business was about a letter, wherein her assistance was

wanting for the interest of the Viscount, that she was to consult
with Monsieur de Nemours what was to be done; and that as for him

he was going to the King, who had just sent for him.
The Duke de Nemours had his heart's desire, in being alone with

Madam de Cleves; "I am come to ask you, Madam," said he, "if
the Queen-Dauphin has not spoke to you of a letter which

Chatelart gave her yesterday." "She said something to me of
it," replied Madam de Cleves, "but I don't see what relation

this letter his to the interests of my uncle, and I can assure
you that he is not named in it." "It is true, Madam," replied

the Duke de Nemours, "he is not named in it but yet it is
addressed to him, and it very much imports him that you should

get it out of the Queen-Dauphin's hands." "I cannot
comprehend," replied the Princess, "how it should be of any

consequence to him, if this letter should be seen, nor what
reason there is to redemand it in his name." "If you please to

be at leisure to hear me, Madam," said Monsieur de Nemours,
"I'll presently make you acquainted with the true state of the

thing, and inform you of matters of so great importance to the
Viscount, that I would not even have trusted the Prince of Cleves

with them, had I not stood in need of his assistance to have the
honour to see you." "I believe," said Madam de Cleves in a

very unconcerned manner, "that anything you may give yourself
the trouble of telling me, will be to little purpose; you had

better go to the Queen-Dauphin, and plainly tell her, without
using these roundabout ways, the interest you have in that

letter, since she has been told, as well as I, that it belongs to
you."

The uneasiness of mind which Monsieur de Nemours observed in
Madam de Cleves gave him the most sensible pleasure he ever knew,

and lessened his impatience to justify himself: "I don't know,
Madam," replied he, "what the Queen-Dauphin may have been told;

but I am not at all concerned in that letter; it is addressed to
the Viscount." "I believe so," replied Madam de Cleves, "but

the Queen-Dauphin has heard to the contrary, and she won't think
it very probable that the Viscount's letters should fall out of

your pocket; you must therefore have some reason, that I don't
know of, for concealing the truth of this matter from the

Queen-Dauphin; I advise you to confess it to her." "I have
nothing to confess to her," says he, "the letter is not

directed to me, and if there be anyone that I would have
satisfied of it, it is not the Queen-Dauphin; but, Madam, since

the Viscount's interest is nearly concerned in this, be pleased
to let me acquaint you with some matters that are worthy of your

curiosity." Madam de Cleves by her silence showed her readiness
to hear him, and he as succinctly as possible related to her all

he had just heard from the Viscount. Though the circumstances
were naturally surprising, and proper to create attention, yet