Page:ThePrincessofCleves.djvu/66

54 says he very softly, that I should be happy in a person for whom I should have the most violent and respectful passion; you may judge, madam, if I ought to believe in predictions.

The queen-dauphin, who believed, from what the duke had spoke aloud, that what he whispered was some false prediction that had been told him, asked him what it was he said to madam de Cleves; had he had a less ready wit, he would have been surprised at this question; but without any hesitation, What I said to her, madam, answered he, was, that it had been predicted to me, that I should be raised to a higher fortune than my most sanguine hopes could lead me to expect.If nothing have been foretold you but this, replied the Queen-Dauphin, smiling, and thinking of the affair of England, I would not advise you to decry astrology; you may have reasons hereafter to offer in defence of it. Madam de Cleves apprehended the queen-dauphin's meaning, but knew withal, that the fortune the duke of Nemours spoke of was not that of being king of England.

The time of her mourning being expired, the princess of Cleves was obliged to make her appearance again, and go to court as usual; she saw the duke de Nemours at the queen-dauphin's apartment; she saw him at the prince of Cleves's, where he often came in company of other young noblemen, to avoid being remarked; yet she never once saw him, but it gave her a pain that could not escape his observation.

However industrious she was to avoid being looked at by him, and to speak less to him than to any other, some things escaped her in an unguarded moment, which convinced him he was not indifferent to her; a man of less discernment than he would not have perceived it, but he had already so often been the object of love, that it was easy for him to know when he was loved; he found the chevalier de Guise was his rival, and the chevalier knew that the duke de Nemours was