with Madame, I wish
him neither harm nor good."

The chevalier had assumed a bitterness with regard to De Guiche, as he
had attempted to do with regard to the king; but he thought he perceived
that the time for indulgence, and even for the utmost indifference,
had arrived, and that, in order to throw some light on the question, it
might be necessary for him to put the lamp, as the saying is, beneath
the husband's very nose.

"Very well, very well," said the chevalier to himself, "I must wait for
De Wardes; he will do more in one day than I in a month; for I verily
believe he is even more envious than I. Then, again, it is not De Wardes
I require so much as that some event or another should happen; and in
the whole of this affair I see none. That De Guiche returned after he
had been sent away is certainly serious enough, but all its seriousness
disappears when I learn that De Guiche has returned at the very moment
Madame troubles herself no longer about him. Madame, in fact, is
occupied with the king, that is clear; but she will not be so much
longer if, as it is asserted, the king has ceased to trouble his
head about her. The moral of the whole matter is, to remain perfectly
neutral, and await the arrival of some new caprice and let that
decide the whole affair." And the chevalier thereupon settled himself
resignedly in the armchair in which Monsieur permitted him to seat
himself in his presence, and, having no more spiteful or malicious
remarks to make, the consequence was that De Lorraine's wit seemed to
have deserted him. Most fortunately Monsieur was in high good-humor,
and he had enough for two, until the time arrived for dismissing
his servants and gentlemen of the chamber, and he passed into his
sleeping-apartment. As he withdrew, he desired the chevalier to
present his compliments to Madame, and say that, as the night was cool,
Monsieur, who was afraid of the toothache, would not venture out again
into the park during the remainder of the evening. The chevalier entered
the princess's apartments at the very moment she came in herself. He
acquitted himself faithfully of the commission intrusted to him, and, in
the first place, remarked all the indifference and annoyance with
which Madame received her husband's communication--a circumstance which
appeared to him fraught with something fresh. If Madame had been about
to leave her apartments with that strangeness of manner, he would have
followed her; but she was r