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Part III. been locked up a considerable time, and two messages had come from the queen-dauphin to hasten madam de Cleves, before they had half finished the letter.

The duke de Nemours was glad to prolong the time that was so agreeable to him, and neglected the concerns of his friend; madam de Cleves was not at all tired, and neglected also the concerns of her uncle: at last, with much ado, about four o'clock the letter was finished, and was so ill done, and the copy so unlike the original, as to the handwriting, that the queen must have taken very little care to come at the truth of the matter, if she had been imposed on by so ill a counterfeit. Accordingly she was not deceived; and however industrious they were to persuade her, that this letter was addressed to the duke de Nemours, she remained satisfied not only that it was addressed to the viscount de Chartres, but that the queen-dauphin was concerned in it, and that there was a correspondence between them; this heightened her hatred against that princess to such a degree, that she never forgave her, and never ceased persecuting her till she had driven her out of France.

As for the viscount de Chartres, his credit was entirely ruined with her; and whether the cardinal of Loraine had already insinuated himself so far into her esteem as to govern her; or whether the accident of this letter, which made it appear that the viscount had deceived her, enabled her to discover the other tricks he had played her, 'tis certain he could never after entirely reconcile himself to her; their correspondence was broke off, and at length she ruined him by means of the conspiracy of Amboise, in which he was involved.

After the letter was sent to the queen-dauphin, monsieur de Cleves and monsieur de Nemours went away; madam de Cleves continued alone, and being no longer supported by the joy which the presence of what one loves gives one, she seemed like one newly waked from