ent to his wife, and told her that what they had to do was not to
debate between themselves who had discovered the secret; but to make it
appear that the story which was got abroad was a business in which she
had no concern; that it depended upon her to convince the Duke de
Nemours and others of it; that she had nothing to do but to behave
herself to him with that coldness and reserve which she ought to have
for a man who professed love to her; that by this proceeding she would
easily remove the opinion he entertained of her being in love with him;
and therefore she needed not to trouble herself as to what he might
hitherto have thought, since if for the future she discovered no
weakness, his former thoughts would vanish of themselves; and that
especially she ought to frequent the Louvre and the assemblies as usual.

Having said this, Monsieur de Cleves left his wife without waiting her
answer; she thought what he said very reasonable, and the resentment
she had against the Duke de Nemours made her believe she should be able
to comply with it with a great deal of ease; but it seemed a hard task
to her to appear at the marriage with that freedom and tranquillity of
spirit as the occasion required. Nevertheless as she was to carry the
Queen-Dauphin's train, and had been distinguished with that honour in
preference to a great many other Princesses, it was impossible to
excuse herself from it without making a great deal of noise and putting
people upon enquiring into the reasons of it. She resolved therefore
to do her utmost, and employed the rest of the day in preparing herself
for it, and in endeavouring to forget the thoughts that gave her so
much uneasiness; and to this purpose she locked herself up in her
closet. Of all her griefs the most violent was that she had reason to
complain of the Duke de Nemours, and could find no excuse to urge in
his favour; she could not doubt but he had related this adventure to
the Viscount de Chartres; he had owned it himself, nor could she any
more doubt from his manner of speaking of it, but that he knew the
adventure related to her; how could she excuse so great an imprudence?
and what was become of that extreme discretion which she had so much
admired in this Prince? "He was discreet," said she, "while he was
unhappy; but the thought of being happy, though on uncertain grounds,
has put an end to his discretion; he could not consider that he was
beloved, without desiring to have i