is in love. The Comte came back, and in less than an hour the
beauty of the Princess, her charm and a few kind words made him more
submissive than ever, and he even gave her some letters from the Duc de
Guise which he had just received.

At this time there was a scheme afoot in the Court to attract there all
the leaders of the Huguenots, with the secret aim of including them in
the horrible massacre of St. Bartholomew's day. As part of this attempt
to lull them into a false sense of security, the King dismissed from
his presence all the princes of the houses of Bourbon and de Guise. The
Prince de Montpensier returned to Champigny, to the utter dismay of his
wife, the Duc de Guise went to the home of his uncle, the Cardinal de
Lorraine.

Love and idleness induced in him such a violent desire to see the
Princess de Montpensier that without considering the risks to her and
to himself he made some excuse to travel and leaving his suite in a
small town he took with him only the gentleman who had already made
several trips to Champigny, and went there by post-chaise. As he knew
no one whom he could approach but the Comte de Chabannes, he had the
gentleman write a note requesting a meeting at a certain spot. The
Comte, believing that this was solely for the purpose of receiving
letters from the Duc de Guise went there, but was most surprised to see
the Duc himself and equally dismayed. The Duc, full of his own plans,
took no more notice of the Comte's dismay than had the Princess of his
silence when she told him of her amour. He described his passion in
florid terms and claimed that he would infallibly die if the Princess
could not be persuaded to see him. The Comte replied coldly that he
would tell the Princess all that the Duc wanted to convey and would
return with her response. He then went back to Champigny with his own
emotions in such a turmoil that he hardly knew what he was doing. He
thought of sending the Duc away without saying anything to the
Princess, but the faithfulness with which he had promised to serve her
soon put an end to that idea. He arrived without knowing what he should
do, and finding that the Prince was out hunting, he went straight to
the Princess's apartment. She saw that he was distressed and dismissed
her women in order to find out what troubled him. He told her, as
calmly as he could, that the Duc de Guise was a league distant and that
he wanted passionately to see her. The Princess gave a cry