The Princess De Montpensier Read online

into which she might beplunged if she engaged in something she had always regarded withdistaste and on the frightening misery which a jealous husband mightinflict on her. These thoughts made her adopt new resolves, but theydisappeared the next day on the sight of the Duc de Guise.

  The new alliance between their families gave the Duc many opportunitiesto speak to her. He gave her an exact account of all that passedbetween Madame and himself. He had difficulty in allaying the jealousyto which the beauty of Madame gave rise and any number of promisesfailed to reassure her. This jealousy enabled the Princess to defendthe remains of her heart against the advances of the Duc, who alreadyhad won the greater part of it.

  The marriage of the King to the daughter of the Emperor Maximilianfilled the Court with fetes and celebrations. The King put on a balletin which Madame and all the princesses were to dance; among them onlythe Princess de Montpensier could rival Madame in beauty. The Ducd'Anjou and four others were to make an appearance as Moors; theircostumes would all be identical, as was usual in this sort ofperformance. On the first occasion on which the ballet was presented,the Duc de Guise, before the dance began and before he had donned hismask, said a few words to the Princess as he went past her. She sawclearly that the Prince her husband had noticed this, which made herfeel uneasy. A little later, seeing the Duc d'Anjou in his mask andMoorish costume, who was coming to speak to her, she mistook him forthe Duc de Guise and said to him "Do not have eyes for anyone butMadame this evening: I shall not be in the least jealous. I am orderingyou. I am being watched. Do not come near me again." As soon as she hadsaid this she moved away.

  The Duc d'Anjou stood there thunderstruck. He saw that he had asuccessful rival: the reference to Madame made it obvious that this wasthe Duc de Guise, and left him in no doubt that his sister was to playsecond fiddle to the Princess de Montpensier. Jealousy, frustration andrage joining to the dislike which he already had for the Duc roused himto a violent fury; and he would have given there and then some bloodymark of his temper had not that dissimulation which came naturally tohim prevented him from attacking the Duc de Guise in the presentcircumstances. He did not, however, refrain from the pleasure ofdisclosing his knowledge of this secret affair. He approached the Ducde Guise as they left the salon where they had been dancing and said tohim "To presume to raise your eyes towards my sister, as well asstealing the affection of the woman I love is altogether too much. Thepresence of the King prevents me from taking any action just now, butremember that the loss of your life may be, one day, the least thingwith which I shall punish your impertinence."

  The pride of the Duc de Guise was not accustomed to submit tamely tosuch threats, but he was unable to reply because at that moment theKing called both of them to his side. He did not forget, however, andtried all his life to exact revenge.

  From that evening the Duc d'Anjou endeavoured in all sorts of ways toturn the King against the Duc de Guise. He persuaded the King thatMadame would never agree to her proposed marriage to the King ofNavarre as long as the Duc de Guise was allowed to have any contactwith her; and that it was unacceptable that a subject, for his own vainpurposes, should place an obstacle in the way of what could bring peaceto France. The King already disliked the Duc de Guise and this speechinflamed his dislike so much that the next day when the Duc presentedhimself to join the ball at the Queen's apartments, he stood in thedoorway and asked him brusquely where he was going. The Duc, withoutshowing any surprise answered that he had come to offer his most humbleservices, to which the King replied that he had no need of any serviceswhich the Duc might provide, and turned away without any otheracknowledgement. The Duc was not deterred from entering the room, hisfeelings incensed both against the King and the Duc d'Anjou. Hisnatural pride led him, as an act of defiance, to pay more attention toMadame than usual, and what the Duc d'Anjou had told him prevented himfrom looking in the direction of the Princess de Montpensier.

  The Duc d'Anjou watched both of them with close attention. ThePrincess's expression, in spite of herself, showed some chagrin whenthe Duc de Guise spoke with Madame. The Duc d'Anjou who realised fromwhat she had said to him, when she mistook him for the Duc de Guise,that she was jealous, hoped to cause trouble. He drew close to her andsaid, "It is in your interest and not in mine that I must tell you thatthe Duc de Guise does not deserve the choice you have made of him inpreference to me, a choice which you cannot deny and of which I am wellaware. He is deceiving you, Madame, and betraying you for my sister ashe betrayed her for you. He is a man moved only by ambition, but sincehe has the good fortune to please you, that is enough; I shall notattempt to stand in the way of a felicity which without doubt I meritmore than he. It would be undignified for me to persist in trying togain the heart which is already possessed by another. It is bad enoughto have attracted only your indifference and I would not like to havethis replaced by dislike by wearying you with endless protestations ofunwelcome devotion."

  The Duc d'Anjou who was genuinely touched by love and sadness, washardly able to complete this speech, and although he had begun in aspirit of spite and vengeance, he was so overcome when he thought ofthe Princess's beauty and of what he was losing by giving up all hopeof being her lover, that without waiting for her reply he left theball, saying that he felt unwell, and went home to nurse his grief.

  The Princess de Montpensier stayed there, upset and worried as onemight imagine. To see her reputation and her secret in the hands of asuitor whom she had rejected and to learn from him that she was beingdeceived by her lover were not things which would put her in the rightframe of mind for a place dedicated to enjoyment; she had, however, toremain where she was and later go to supper in the company of theDuchess de Montpensier, her mother-in-law.

  The Duc de Guise who had followed them to his sister's house, was dyingto tell her what the Duc d'Anjou had said the day before, but to hisastonishment when he did have the opportunity to speak to her, he wasoverwhelmed by reproaches which were tumbled out in such angryprofusion that all he could gather was that he was accused ofinfidelity and treachery. Dismayed at finding himself in this unhappysituation when he had hoped for consolation, and being so much in lovewith the Princess that he could not bear to be unsure if he was lovedin return, he took a sudden decision. "I shall lay your doubts atrest." He said. "I am going to do what all the royal power could notmake me do. It will cost me my fortune but that is of little account ifit makes you happy."

  He went straight from his sister's house to that of his uncle, thecardinal. He convinced him that having fallen into the King'sdisfavour, it was essential that it should be made quite clear that hewould not marry Madame, so he asked for his marriage to be arrangedwith the Princess de Portien, a matter which had previously beendiscussed. The news of this was soon all over Paris and gave rise tomuch surprise. The princess de Montpensier was both happy and sad. Gladto see the power she had over the Duc, and sorry that she had causedhim to abandon something so advantageous as marriage to Madame. The Ducwho hoped that love would compensate him for his material loss, pressedthe Princess to give him a private audience so that he could clear upthe unjust accusations which she had made. He obtained this when shefound herself at his sister's house at a time when his sister was notthere and she was able to speak to him alone. The Duc took theopportunity to throw himself at her feet and describe all that he hadsuffered because of her suspicions, and though the Princess was unableto forget what the Duc d'Anjou had said to her, the behaviour of theDuc de Guise did much to reassure her. She told him exactly why shebelieved he had betrayed her which was because the Duc d'Anjou knewwhat he could only have learned from him. The Duc did not know how to defendhimself and was as puzzled as she to guess what could have given awaytheir secret: at last, while the Princess was remonstrating with himfor giving up the idea of the advantageous marriage with Madame andrushing into that with the Princess de Portien, she said to him that hecould have been certain that she would not be jealous since on the dayof the ball she herself had told him to have eyes only for Madame. TheDuc
said that she might have intended to do so but that she certainlyhad not. She maintained that she had, and in the end they reached thecorrect conclusion that she herself, deceived by the resemblance of thecostumes, had told the Duc d'Anjou what she accused the Duc de Guise oftelling him. The Duc de Guise who had almost entirely returned tofavour, did so completely as a result of this conversation. ThePrincess could not refuse her heart to a man who had possessed it inthe past and had just made such a sacrifice to please her. Sheconsented to accept his declaration and permitted him to believe thatshe was not unmoved by his passion. The arrival of the Duchess, hermother-in-law, put an end to this tete-a-tete, and prevented the Ducfrom demonstrating his transports of joy.

  Some time later, the Court having gone to Blois, the marriage betweenthe King of Navarre and Madame was celebrated.