The Princess de Montpensier | Page 9

Queen re-entered the
room and the Duc de Guise moved away to avoid the jealous Prince.
That evening the Princess found her husband in the worst temper
imaginable. He berated her with the utmost violence and forbade her
ever to speak to the Duc de Guise again. She retired to her room very
sad and much preoccupied with the events of the day. She saw the Duc
the next day amid the company around the Queen, but he did not come
near her and left soon after she did, indicating that he had no interest in
remaining if she was not there. Not a day passed without her receiving
a thousand covert marks of the Duc's passion though he did not attempt
to speak to her unless he was sure that they could be seen by nobody.
Convinced of the Duc's sincerity, the Princess, in spite of the resolution
she had made at Champigny, began to feel in the depths of her heart
something of what she had felt in the past.
The Duc d'Anjou for his part, omitted nothing which could demonstrate
his devotion in all the places where he could meet her. In the Queen his
mother's apartments he followed her about continually, completely
ignoring his sister who was very fond of him. It was at around this time
that it became evident that this sister, who later became the Queen of

Navarre, had a liking for the Duc de Guise, and another thing that
became evident was a cooling of the friendship between that Duc and
the Duc d'Anjou. The rumour linking the name of the Royal Princess
with that of the Duc de Guise disturbed The Princess de Montpensier to
a degree which surprised her, and made her realise that she was more
interested in the Duc than she had supposed.
Now it so happened that her father-in-law, M. de Montpensier, married
a sister of the Duc de Guise, and the princess was bound to meet the
Duc frequently in the various places where the marriage celebrations
required their presence. She was greatly offended that a man who was
widely believed to be in love with "Madame", the King's sister, should
dare to make advances to her; she was not only offended but distressed
at having deceived herself.
One day, when they met at his sister's house, being a little separated
from he rest, the Duc was tempted to speak to her, but she interrupted
him sharply saying angrily "I do not understand how, on the basis of a
weakness which one had at the age of thirteen, you have the audacity to
make amorous proposals to a person like me, particularly when, in the
view of the whole Court, you are interested in someone else." The Duc
who was intelligent as well as being much in love, understood the
emotion which underlay the Princess's words. He answered her most
respectfully, "I confess, Madame, that it was wrong of me not to reject
the possible honour of becoming the King's brother-in-law, rather than
allow you to suspect for a moment that I could desire any heart but
yours; but if you will be patient enough to hear me I am sure I can fully
justify my behaviour." The Princess made no reply, but she did not go
away and the Duc, seeing that she was prepared to listen to him, told
her that although he had made no effort to attract the attention of
Madame, she had nevertheless honoured him with her interest: as he
was not enamoured of her he had responded very coolly to this honour
until she gave him to believe that she might marry him. The realisation
of the grandeur to which such a marriage would raise him had obliged
him to take a little more trouble. This situation had aroused the
suspicions of the King and the Duc d'Anjou, but the opposition of
neither of them would have any effect on his course of action, however,

if this displeased her he would abandon all such notions and never
think of them again.
This sacrifice which the Duc was prepared to make caused the Princess
to forget all the anger she had shown. She changed the subject and
began to speak of the indiscretion displayed by Madame in making the
first advances and of the considerable advantages which he would gain
if he married her. In the end, without saying anything kind to the Duc
de Guise, she made him recall a thousand things he had found so
pleasing in Mlle. de MÇziäres. Although they had not had private
conversation for a long time, they found themselves attuned to one
another, and their thoughts went along a track which they both had
travelled in the past. At the end of this agreeable meeting the