principal motive of this journey. The King received him very
coldly; Messieurs de Guise, who have no kindness for him, but
dare not show it on account of the Duchess, made use of Monsieur
the Viscount, her declared enemy, to prevent his obtaining what
he came to demand. It was no difficult matter to do him hurt.
The King hated him, and was uneasy at his presence, so that he
was obliged to return to Piemont without any benefit from his
journey, except perhaps that of rekindling in the heart of the
Duchess the flame which absence began to extinguish.

The King has had a great many other subjects of jealousy, but
either he has not been informed of them, or has not dared to
complain of them.

"I don't know, daughter," added Madam de Chartres, "if I have
not already told you more of these things, than you desired to
know." "I am far, Madam, from complaining of that," replied
the Princess of Cleves, "and if it was not for fear of being
importunate, I should yet desire to be informed of several
circumstances I am ignorant of."

The Duke de Nemours' passion for Madam de Cleves was at first so
violent, that he had no relish left for any of the ladies he paid
his addresses to before, and with whom he kept a correspondence
during his absence; he even lost all remembrance of his
engagements with them, and not only made it his business to find
out excuses to break with them, but had not the patience to hear
their complaints, or make any answer to the reproaches they laid
upon him. The Queen-Dauphin herself, for whom his regards had
been very tender, could no longer preserve a place in that heart