Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/42

28 air, she would have thought him the most dissembling, or the most unfeeling man in the world, and could never have loved him, or believed in him again. As to this, Madame de Chevreuse promises M. de Châteauneuf that, instead of being governed by the cardinal's advice, she will both love him and believe in him forever.

"I believe that M. de Châteauneuf fully belongs to Madame de Chevreuse, and I promise you that Madame de Chevreuse will ever regard M. de Châteauneuf as her own. Though all the world should neglect M. de Châteauneuf, Madame de Chevreuse will continue to esteem him so highly through her whole life that, if he loves her as truly as he has said, he will have reason to be content with his fortune, for all the powers of earth could not make me change my resolution. I swear this to you, and command you to believe it, and to love me faithfully.

"Last evening the cardinal sent to inquire after the health of Madame de Chevreuse, and wrote to her that he was dying to see her, and that he had many things to say to her, being more than ever devoted to Madame de Chevreuse, who sets little value on this protestation, but much on that which M. de Châteauneuf has made of being wholly hers. To-morrow I will tell you more. Love your master always; he is ill, and has only gone out when obliged for the last two days, but in whatever state he may be, and whatever may happen to him, he will die rather than fail in any thing he has promised you.

"At six o'clock last evening, the Cardinal de La Valette came to see Madame de Chevreuse on the part of the Cardinal de Richelieu. He addressed her sadly and submissively in behalf of his master. After this, he paid a forced admiration to Madame de Chevreuse, and offered a thousand gallantries which seemed insults to me. I answered him civilly and coldly. 37 is in despair; he says that he will destroy himself since Madame de Chevreuse will not see him; that the life which he has only cherished in the belief that it would one day be