Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/38

24 was very much cast down; two or three times he seemed to wish to tell me something, and I gave him sufficient opportunity, but he remained silent, and I know nothing of his sentiments except what I surmise. As soon as I know the truth, you shall be informed of it, and I will avail myself of it with him and with all the rest as I have promised you; be sure of this, and also that the promises of the cardinal will not shake me. Need I assure you of this? Can it be possible that you would even suspect it? I should be in despair if I believed so, but I have too good an opinion of you not to live in the certainty that you have not a bad one of me.

"I am driven to despair by what the cardinal has demanded of Madame de Chevreuse this evening. He has despatched a messenger to her to entreat of her two things: first, that she would not speak to Brion, (François Christophe de Levis, Count de Brion, one of the favorites of the Duke of Orleans, the future Duke de Damville,) and second, that she would not see M. de Châteauneuf. It is only the last that troubles me. However, my resolution of testifying my affection to M. de Châteauneuf is stronger than all considerations of the cardinal. I have therefore sent word to the cardinal that I cannot refuse the entreaties of M. de Chevreuse that I should see M. de Châteauneuf respecting several of his business affairs. My own chief business is to acquit myself of the obligations which I owe to M. de Châteauneuf, to whom I am more indebted than to any other person.

"There is no pleasure or fatigue which can prevent me from thinking of you, and from giving you tokens of it. These three lines are a proof of this truth, and I wish them to serve as the assurance of another, namely, that if M. de Châteauneuf is as devoted a servant in deeds as in words, Madame de Chevreuse will be a more grateful master in actions than in language.

"I do not doubt the trouble which you are in, and you protest that Madame de Chevreuse shares it, believing her the