Page:Secret History of the French Court under Richelieu and Mazarin.djvu/43

Rh and useful to Madame de Chevreuse will henceforth be a burden to him; that having lost all hope he has lost the wish to live, and that this will be the last importunity that I shall receive from him. I hope that your affection is proof against every thing. I ask this favor of you, that it may be so, and promise you that as long as Madame de Chevreuse shall live, you shall receive the same love from her. This letter was commenced yesterday. The Cardinal de La Valette has since sent me a thousand compliments in behalf of the Cardinal de Richelieu.

"There is no means of saying any thing more about the diamond; but though the cardinal suspects Madame de Chevreuse, she will either remove his suspicions, or replace them by the conviction that all his prosperity cannot influence Madame de Chevreuse so far as to make her submit to the caprices of his whimsical humor. Do not disquiet yourself about this affair, but rather think of the health of your master who is ill and confined to his bed, for if you lose him, you will never find his like in fidelity and affection.

"I wish to see you as much as you do to converse with me, but I am troubled to find the means of doing so, because the cardinal must not know that we have met if we would not completely unhinge him. Send me word then how I must manage to see you without the knowledge of the cardinal.

"I shall always command you except this once, when I ask a favor of you, which is the greatest that you can grant me; it is that M. de Châteauneuf shall never suspect Madame de Chevreuse, but shall rest assured that he will never lose the good graces of his master until Madame de Chevreuse shall lose her life, which she hopes will not happen until she has first proved to M. de Châteauneuf how much he is esteemed by Madame de Chevreuse, though this may be more than she has promised him. But a good master never fears to err in obliging his servant, when he has proved himself full of fidelity and affection. The cardinal wishes to