most fiery and high mettled of them. The
horses were ready to fall foul on one another, when the Duke of
Nemours, for fear of hurting the King, retreated abruptly, and ran back
his horse against a pillar with so much violence that the shock of it
made him stagger. The company ran up to him, and he was thought
considerably hurt; but the Princess of Cleves thought the hurt much
greater than anyone else. The interest she had in it gave her an
apprehension and concern which she took no care to conceal; she came up
to him with the Queens, and with a countenance so changed, that one
less concerned than the Chevalier de Guise might have perceived it:
perceive it he immediately did, and was much more intent upon the
condition Madam de Cleves was in, than upon that of the Duke de
Nemours. The blow the Duke had given himself had so stunned him, that
he continued some time leaning his head on those who supported him;
when he raised himself up, he immediately viewed Madam de Cleves, and
saw in her face the concern she was in for him, and he looked upon her
in a manner which made her sense how much he was touched with it:
afterwards he thanked the Queens for the goodness they had expressed to
him, and made apologies for the condition he had been in before them;
and then the King ordered him to go to rest.

Madam de Cleves, after she was recovered from the fright she had been
in, presently reflected on the tokens she had given of it. The
Chevalier de Guise did not suffer her to continue long in the hope that
nobody had perceived it, but giving her his hand to lead her out of the
lists: "I have more cause to complain, Madam," said he, "than the Duke
de Nemours; pardon me, if I forget for a moment that profound respect I
have always had for you, and show you how much my heart is grieved for
what my eyes have just seen; this is the first time I have ever been so
bold as to speak to you, and it will be the last. Death or at least
eternal absence will remove me from a place where I can live no longer,
since I have now lost the melancholy comfort I had of believing that
all who behold you with love are as unhappy as myself."

Madam de Cleves made only a confused answer, as if she had not
understood what the Chevalier's words meant: at another time she would
have been offended if he had mentioned the passion he had for her; but
at this moment she felt nothing but the affliction to know that he had
observed the passion she had for the