about four o'clock
Madam de Cleves was in a new embarrassment on this occasion : in short , after having consulted together , they resolved to form the letter by memory ; and , in order to go about it , they locked themselves up , and left orders that nobody should be admitted , and that all the Duke de Nemours 's attendants should be sent away . Such an appearance of secret confidence was no small charm to Monsieur de Nemours , and even to Madam de Cleves ; her husband 's presence , and the interests of her uncle the Viscount de Chartres , were considerations which in great measure removed her scruples , and made this opportunity of seeing and being with the Duke de Nemours so agreeable to her , that she never before experienced a joy so pure and free from allay ; this threw her into a freedom and gaiety of spirit which the Duke had never observed in her till now , and which made him still more passionately in love with her : as he had never known such agreeable moments , his vivacity was much heightened ; and whenever Madam de Cleves was beginning to recollect and write the letter , instead of assisting her seriously , did nothing but interrupt her with wit and pleasantry . Madam de Cleves was as gay as he , so that they had been locked up a considerable time , and two messages had come from the Queen-Dauphin to hasten Madam de Cleves , before they had half finished the letter . The Duke de Nemours was glad to prolong the time that was so agreeable to him , and neglected the concerns of his friend ; Madam de Cleves was not at all tired , and neglected also the concerns of her uncle : at last , with much ado , about four o'clock the letter was finished , and was so ill done , and the copy so unlike the original , as to the handwriting , that the queen must have taken very little care to come at the truth of the matter , if she had been imposed on by so ill a counterfeit . Accordingly she was not deceived ; and however industrious they were to persuade her , that this letter was addressed to the Duke de Nemours , she remained satisfied not only that it was addressed to the Viscount de Chartres , but that the Queen-Dauphin was concerned in it , and that there was a correspondence between them ; this heightened her hatred against that Princess to such a degree , that she never forgave her , and never ceased persecuting her till she had driven her out of France . As for the Viscount de Chartres , his credit was entirely ruined with her ; and whether the Cardinal of Loraine had already insinuated himself so far into her esteem as to govern her , or whether the accident of this letter , which made it appear that the Viscount had deceived her , enabled her to discover the other tricks he had played her , it is certain he could never after entirely reconcile himself to her ; their correspondence was broke off , and at length she ruined him by means of the conspiracy of Amboise , in which he was involved . After the letter was sent to the Queen-Dauphin , Monsieur de Cleves and Monsieur de Nemours went away ; Madam de Cleves continued alone , and being no longer supported by the joy which the presence of what one loves gives one , she seemed like one newly waked from a dream ; she beheld , with astonishment , the difference between the condition she was in the night before , and that she was in at this time : she called to mind , how cold and sullen she was to the Duke de Nemours , while she thought Madam de Themines 's letter was addressed to him , and how calm and sweet a situation of mind succeeded that uneasiness , as soon as he was satisfied he was not concerned in that letter ; when she reflected , that she reproached herself as guilty for having given him the foregoing day only some marks of sensibility , which mere compassion might have produced , and that by her peevish humour this morning , she had expressed such a jealousy as was a certain proof of passion , she thought she was not herself ; when she reflected further , that the Duke de Nemours saw plainly that she knew he was in love with her , and that , notwithstanding her knowing it , she did not use him the worse for it , even in her husband 's presence ; but that , on the contrary , she had never behaved so favourably to him ; when she considered , she was the cause of Monsieur de Cleves 's sending for him , and that she had just passed an afternoon in private with him ; when she considered all this , she found , there was something within her that held intelligence with the Duke de Nemours , and that she deceived a husband who least deserved it ; and she was ashamed to appear so little worthy of esteem , even in the eyes of her lover ; but what she was able to support less than all the rest was , the remembrance of the condition in which she spent the last night , and the pricking griefs she felt from a suspicion that the Duke de Nemours was in love with another , and that she was deceived by him .