Chapter 44 - Page 2

jealous?"

"Ah!" said the prince, "that's very proper."

"Did your royal highness," continued the chevalier, "solicit dear De
Guiche's pardon?"

"No, indeed," said Monsieur. "De Guiche is an excellent fellow, and full
of courage; but as I do not approve of his conduct with Madame, I wish
him neither harm nor good."

The chevalier had assumed a bitterness with regard to De Guiche, as he
had attempted to do with regard to the king; but he thought he perceived
that the time for indulgence, and even for the utmost indifference, had
arrived, and that, in order to throw some light on the question, it might
be necessary for him to put the lamp, as the saying is, beneath the
husband's very nose.

"Very well, very well," said the chevalier to himself, "I must wait for
De Wardes; he will do more in one day than I in a month; for I verily
believe he is even more envious than I. Then, again, it is not De Wardes
I require so much as that some event or another should happen; and in the
whole of this affair I see none. That De Guiche returned after he had
been sent away is certainly serious enough, but all its seriousness
disappears when I learn that De Guiche has returned at the very moment
Madame troubles herself no longer about him. Madame, in fact, is
occupied with the king, that is clear; but she will not be so much longer
if, as it is asserted, the king has ceased to trouble his head about
her. The moral of the whole matter is, to remain perfectly neutral, and
await the arrival of some new caprice and let that decide the whole
affair." And the chevalier thereupon settled himself resignedly in the
armchair in which Monsieur permitted him to seat himself in his presence,
and, having no more spiteful or malicious remarks to make, the
consequence was that De Lorraine's wit seemed to have deserted him. Most
fortunately Monsieur was in high good-humor, and he had enough for two,
until the time arrived for dismissing his servants and gentlemen of the
chamber, and he passed into his sleeping-apartment. As he withdrew, he
desired the chevalier to present his compliments to Madame, and say that,
as the night was cool, Monsieur, who was afraid of the toothache, would
not venture out again into the park during the remainder of the evening.
The chevalier entered the princess's apartments at the very moment she
came in herself. He acquitted himself faithfully of the commission
intrusted to him, and, in the first place, remarked all the indifference
and annoyance with which Madame received her husband's communication - a
circumstance which appeared to him fraught with something fresh. If
Madame had been about to leave her apartments with that strangeness of
manner, he would have followed her; but she was