his side to the Queen's apartment, and
to Madame's, to whom the Duke of Alva had brought a magnificent present
from his master; he went thence to the apartment of Madam Margaret the
King's sister, to compliment her on the part of the Duke of Savoy, and
to assure her he would arrive in a few days; there were great
assemblies at the Louvre, the show the Duke of Alva, and the Prince of
Orange who accompanied him, the beauties of the Court.

Madam de Cleves could not dispense with going to these assemblies,
however desirous she was to be absent, for fear of disobliging her
husband, who absolutely commanded her to be there; and what yet more
induced her to it, was the absence of the Duke de Nemours; he was gone
to meet the Duke of Savoy, and after the arrival of that Prince, he was
obliged to be almost always with him, to assist him in everything
relating to the ceremonies of the nuptials; for this reason Madam de
Cleves did not meet him so often as she used to do, which gave her some
sort of ease.

The Viscount de Chartres had not forgot the conversation he had had
with the Duke de Nemours: it still ran in his mind that the adventure
the Duke had related to him was his own; and he observed him so
carefully that it is probable he would have unravelled the business, if
the arrival of the Duke of Alva and of the Duke of Savoy had not made
such an alteration in the Court, and filled it with so much business,
as left no opportunities for a discovery of that nature; the desire he
had to get some information about it, or rather the natural disposition
one has to relate all one knows to those one loves, made him acquaint
Madam de Martigues with the extraordinary action of that person who had
confessed to her husband the passion she had for another; he assured
her the Duke de Nemours was the man who had inspired so violent a love,
and begged her assistance in observing him. Madam de Martigues was
glad to hear what the Viscount told her, and the curiosity she had
always observed in the Queen-Dauphin for what concerned the Duke de
Nemours made her yet more desirous to search into the bottom of the
affair.

A few days before that which was fixed for the ceremony of the
marriage, the Queen-Dauphin entertained at supper the King her
father-in-law, and the Duchess of Valentinois. Madam de Cleves, who
had been busy in dressing herself, went to the Louvre later than
ordinary; as she was going, she met a gentleman that was coming from