The Princess de Montpensier | Page 8

not give rise to the same pleasure at Champigny. The
Prince de Montpensier was dissatisfied with all that had happened
without being able to say precisely why. He found fault with his wife
for being in the boat. He considered that she had welcomed the Princes
too readily; and what displeased him most was that he had noticed the
attention paid to her by the Duc de Guise. This had provoked in him a
furious bout of jealousy in which he recalled the anger displayed by the
Duc at the prospect of his marriage, which caused him to suspect that
even at that time the Duc was in love with his wife. The Comte de
Chabannes as usual made every effort to act as peacemaker, hoping in
this way to show the Princess that his devotion to her was sincere and
disinterested. He could not resist asking her what effect the sight of the
Duc de Guise had produced. She replied that she had been somewhat

upset and embarrassed at the memory of the feelings she had once
displayed to him; she found him more handsome than he had been then
and it had seemed to her that he wished to persuade her that he still
loved her, but she assured the Comte that nothing would shake her
determination not to become involved in any intrigue. The Comte was
happy to hear of this resolve, but he was far from being sure about the
Duc de Guise. He earnestly warned the Princess of the danger of a
return to the previous situation should she have any change of heart,
though when he spoke of his devotion she adopted her invariable
attitude of looking on him as her closest friend but in no way a possible
suitor.
The armies were once more called up; all the Princes returned to their
posts and the Prince de Montpensier decided that his wife should come
with him to Paris so as to be further from the area where it was
expected that fighting would take place. The Huguenots besieged
Poitiers. The Duc de Guise went there to organise the defence and,
while there, enhanced his reputation by his conduct. The Duc d'Anjou
suffered from some illness, and left the army either on account of the
severity of this or because he wanted to return to the comfort and
security of Paris, where the presence of the Princess de Montpensier
was not the least of the attractions. The command of the army was
taken over by the Prince de Montpensier, and shortly after this, a peace
having been arranged, the Court assembled in Paris. Here the beauty of
the Princess eclipsed that of all her rivals. She charmed everyone by her
looks and personality. The Duc d'Anjou did not abandon the sentiments
she had inspired in him at Champigny, he took great care to make her
aware of this by all sorts of delicate considerations, being careful at the
same time not to make his attentions too obvious for fear of arousing
the jealousy of her husband. The Duc de Guise was now fervently in
love with her, but wishing, for a variety of reasons, to keep this secret,
he resolved to tell her so privately and avoid any preliminaries which,
as always, would give rise to talk and exposure. One day when he was
in the Queen's apartments where there were very few people, the Queen
having left to discuss affairs of state with Cardinal de Lorraine, the
Princess de Montpensier arrived. He decided to take this opportunity to
speak to her, and going up to her he said, "Although it may surprise and

displease you, I want you to know that I have always felt for you that
emotion which you once knew so well, and that its power has been so
greatly increased by seeing you again that neither your disapproval, the
hatred of your husband, nor the rivalry of the first Prince in the
kingdom can in the least diminish it. It would perhaps have been more
tactful to have let you become aware of this by my behaviour rather
than by my words, but my behaviour would have been evident to others
as well as to yourself and I wanted you alone to know of my love for
you."
The Princess was so surprised and thrown into confusion by this speech
that she could not think of an answer, then, just when she had collected
her wits and begun to reply, the Prince de Montpensier entered the
room. The Princess's face displayed her agitation, and her
embarrassment was compounded by the sight of her husband, to such
an extent that he was left in no doubt about what the Duc de Guise had
been saying to her. Fortunately at that moment the