The Princesse De Cleves by Madame Lafayette

Author:Madame Lafayette [Lafayette, Madame]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Classics, Fiction, Historical, Romance
ISBN: 9780141960555
Google: zm2YrOVA928C
Publisher: Penguin UK
Published: 2004-09-29T23:00:00+00:00

BOOK THREE

‘Much though my mind was absorbed by this new relationship with the Queen, an irresistible natural inclination drew me to Mme de Thémines. I felt that she was falling out of love with me. Good sense should have persuaded me to use this as the means to cure me of the liaison, but instead the change in her caused my love to increase and I acted so foolishly that the Queen came to hear word of the relationship. She belongs to a people naturally inclined to jealousy, and it could be that her feeling for me is more profound than she realizes. In any event, the rumour that I was in love was so unwelcome to her and caused her such distress that a hundred times I thought my case was lost. Eventually, by dint of much effort, submission and false promises, I reassured her; but I should not have been able to deceive her for long were it not that Mme de Thémines’s own change of heart had released me in spite of myself. She showed that she no longer loved me, and I was so convinced of it that I was obliged not to pursue her further, but to leave her in peace. Some time later, she wrote me a letter, the same that I lost. From it, I learned that she knew about my liaison with the other woman I mentioned, which had caused the change in her.

‘Since my feelings were no longer divided, the Queen was quite pleased with me; but since the feelings I have for her are not of a sort to preclude any other attachment, and since it is not by choice that one falls in love, I did so again, with Mme de Martigues, for whom I already felt a considerable liking when she was a Villemontais, a lady-in-waiting of the Reine Dauphine. I have cause to believe that she does not find me unattractive, and she appreciates my discretion, though she does not precisely know the reason behind it. As far as she is concerned, the Queen suspects nothing: what she does suspect, however, is scarcely less troublesome. Since Mme de Martigues is always at the Dauphine’s, I visit there much more frequently than before: the Queen has the notion that I am in love with the princess. The Dauphine’s station is equal to her own, but she is superior in beauty and youth, so the Queen is beside herself with jealousy and can no longer disguise her hatred for her daughter-in-law. The Cardinal de Lorraine, who has in my view long aspired to the Queen’s favour and sees me enjoying a place that he would wish to occupy, has intervened in the quarrel between them, on the pretext of healing the breach between her and the Dauphine. I am convinced he has discovered the real motive for the Queen’s ill-feeling and I believe he is doing me every kind of disservice, without letting her see that he intends it.

‘This is how things stand at present.

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