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Part IV. contemplation, and she discovered it was the duke de Nemours: upon this she stopped short: but her attendants made some noise, which roused the duke out of his musing: he took no notice who the persons were that disturbed him, but got up in order to avoid the company that was coming towards him; and making a low bow, which hindered him from seeing those he saluted, he turned into another walk.

If he had known whom he avoided, with what eagerness would he have returned! But he walked down the alley, and madam de Cleves saw him go out at a back-door, where his coach waited for him. What an effect did this transient view produce in the heart of madam de Cleves! What a flame rekindled out of the embers of her love, and with what violence did it burn! She went and sat down in the same place from which monsieur de Nemours was newly risen, and seemed perfectly overwhelmed; his image immediately possessed her fancy, and she considered him as the most amiable person in the world, as one who had long loved her with a passion full of veneration and sincerity, slighting all for her, paying respect even to her grief, to his own torture, labouring to see her without a thought of being seen by her, quitting the court (though the court's delight) to come and look on the walls where she was shut up, and to pass his melancholy hours in places where he could not hope to meet her; in a word, a man whose attachment to her alone merited returns of love; and for whom she had so strong an inclination, that she should have loved him, though she had not been beloved by him; and besides, one whose quality was suitable to her's: all the obstacles that could rise from duty and virtue were now removed, and all the trace that remained on her mind of their former condition, was the passion the duke de Nemours had for her, and that which she had for him.

All these ideas were new to her; her affliction for the death of her husband had left her no room for