ur life to
avenge such an affront."

"The appearances are wholly misleading," interrupted the Comte.

"Ah! It is too much. I must be avenged and clear things up later," said
the Prince, advancing towards the Comte like a man carried away by
rage. The Princess, fearing bloodshed, (which was not possible as her
husband did not have a sword) placed herself between the two of them
and fell fainting at her husband's feet. The Prince was even more
affected by this than he was by the calmness of the Comte when he
confronted him, and as if he could no longer bear the sight of those
two people who had caused him such distress, he turned away and fell on
his wife's bed, overcome by grief. The Comte de Chabannes, filled with
remorse at having abused the friendship of which he had had so many
marks, and believing that he could never atone for what he had done,
left the room abruptly and passing through the Princess's apartment
where he found all the doors open, he went down to the courtyard. He
had a horse brought to him and rode off into the country led only by
his feelings of hopelessness. The Prince de Montpensier, seeing that
his wife did not recover from her faint, left her to her women and
retired to his own quarters greatly disturbed.

The Duc de Guise having got out of the park, hardly knowing what he was
doing being in such a state of turmoil, put several leagues between
himself and Champigny, but could go no further without news of the
Princess. He stopped in the forest and sent his squire to find out from
the Comte de Chabannes what had happened. The squire found no trace of
Chabannes but was told by others that the Princess was seriously ill.
The Duc's inquietude was increased by what the squire had told him, but
as he could do nothing he was constrained to go back to his uncle's in
order not to raise suspicions by too long an absence.

The Duc's squire had been correct when he said that the Princess was
seriously ill, for as soon as her women had put her to bed she was
seized by a violent fever with horrible phantasies, so that by the
second day her life was despaired of. The Prince pretended that he
himself was ill so that no one should be surprised that he did not
visit his wife's room. The order which he received to return to the
Court, to which all the Catholic princes were being recalled in
preparation for the massacre of the Huguenots, relieved him of his
embarrassment. He went off to Paris without knowing wh