of Madam de Cleves, than did Monsieur de Nemours himself; they

began to examine what issue could reasonably be hoped for in this
affair; and however fearful the Duke de Nemours was from his

love, he agreed with the Viscount, that it was impossible Madam
de Cleves should continue in the resolution she was in; they were

of opinion nevertheless that it was necessary to follow her
orders, for fear, upon the public's perceiving the inclination he

had for her, she should make declarations and enter into
engagements with respect to the world, that she would afterwards

abide by, lest it should be thought she loved him in her
husband's lifetime.

Monsieur de Nemours determined to follow the King; it was a
journey he could not well excuse himself from, and so he resolved

to go without endeavouring to see Madam de Cleves again from the
window out of which he had sometimes seen her; he begged the

Viscount to speak to her; and what did he not desire him to say
in his behalf? What an infinite number of reasons did he furnish

him with, to persuade her to conquer her scruples? In short,
great part of the night was spent before he thought of going

away.
As for Madam de Cleves, she was in no condition to rest; it was a

thing so new to her to have broke loose from the restraints she
had laid on herself, to have endured the first declarations of

love that ever were made to her, and to have confessed that she
herself was in love with him that made them, all this was so new

to her, that she seemed quite another person; she was surprised
at what she had done; she repented of it; she was glad of it; all

her thoughts were full of anxiety and passion; she examined again
the reasons of her duty, which obstructed her happiness; she was

grieved to find them so strong, and was sorry that she had made
them out so clear to Monsieur de Nemours: though she had

entertained thoughts of marrying him, as soon as she beheld him
in the garden of the suburbs, yet her late conversation with him

made a much greater impression on her mind; at some moments she
could not comprehend how she could be unhappy by marrying him,

and she was ready to say in her heart, that her scruples as to
what was past, and her fears for the future, were equally

groundless: at other times, reason and her duty prevailed in her
thoughts, and violentlyhurried her into a resolution not to

marry again, and never to see Monsieur de Nemours; but this was a
resolution hard to be established in a heart so softened as hers,

and so latelyabandoned to the charms of love. At last, to give
herself a little ease, she concluded that it was not yet

necessary to do herself the violence of coming to any resolution,
and decency allowed her a considerable time to determine what to

do: however she resolved to continue firm in having no commerce
with Monsieur de Nemours. The Viscount came to see her, and

pleaded his friend's cause with all the wit and application
imaginable, but could not make her alter her conduct, or recall

the severe orders she had given to Monsieur de Nemours; she told
him her design was not to change her condition; that she knew how

difficult it was to stand to that design, but that she hoped she
should be able to do it; she made him so sensible how far she was

affected with the opinion that Monsieur de Nemours was the cause
of her husband's death, and how much she was convinced that it

would be contrary to her duty to marry him, that the Viscount was
afraid it would be very difficult to take away those impressions;

he did not, however, tell the Duke what he thought, when he gave
him an account of his conversation with her, but left him as much

hope as a man who is loved may reasonably have.
They set out the next day, and went after the King; the Viscount

wrote to Madam de Cleves at Monsieur de Nemours's request, and in
a second letter, which soon followed the first, the Duke wrote a

line or two in his own hand; but Madam de Cleves determined not
to depart from the rules she had prescribed herself, and fearing

the accidents that might happen from letters, informed the
Viscount that she would receive his letters no more, if he

continued to speak of Monsieur de Nemours, and did it in so
peremptory a manner, that the Duke desired him not to mention

him.
During the absence of the Court, which was gone to conduct the

Queen of Spain as far as Poitou, Madam de Cleves continued at
home; and the more distant she was from Monsieur de Nemours, and

from everything that could put her in mind of him, the more she
recalled the memory of the Prince of Cleves, which she made it

her glory to preserve; the reasons she had not to marry the Duke
de Nemours appeared strong with respect to her duty, but

invincible with respect to her quiet; the opinion she had, that
marriage would put an end to his love, and the torments of

jealousy, which she thought the infallible consequences of
marriage, gave her the prospect of a certain unhappiness if she

consented to his desires; on the other hand, she thought it
impossible, if he were present, to refuse the most amiable man in

the world, the man who loved her, and whom she loved, and to
oppose him in a thing that was neither inconsistent with virtue

nor decency: she thought that nothing but absence and distance
could give her the power to do it; and she found she stood in

need of them, not only to support her resolution not to marry,
but even to keep her from seeing Monsieur de Nemours; she

resolvedtherefore to take a long journey, in order to pass away
the time which decency obliged her to spend in retirement; the

fine estate she had near the Pyrenees seemed the most proper
place she could make choice of; she set out a few days before the

Court returned, and wrote at parting to the Viscount to conjure
him not to think of once enquiring after her, or of writing to her.

Monsieur de Nemours was as much troubled at this journey as
another would have been for the death of his mistress; the

thought of being deprived so long a time of the sight of Madam de
Cleves grieved him to the soul, especially as it happened at a

time when he had lately enjoyed the pleasure of seeing her, and
of seeing her moved by his passion; however he could do nothing

but afflict himself, and his affliction increased every day.
Madam de Cleves, whose spirits had been so much agitated, was no

sooner arrived at her country seat, but she fell desperately ill;
the news of it was brought to Court; Monsieur de Nemours was

inconsolable; his grief proceeded even to despair and
extravagance; the Viscount had much a-do to hinder him from

discovering his passion in public, and as much a-do to keep him
from going in person to know how she did; the relation and

friendship between her and the Viscount served as an excuse for
sending frequent messengers; at last they heard she was out of

the extremity of danger she had been in, but continued in a
languishing malady that left but little hopes of life.