“‘Sire, I have always ardently desired a thing which has happened to me when I was least anticipating it, which was the opportunity of showing your Majesty, by some signal proof, the extreme and ardent devotion which I cherish for you, and how truly I love you. Assuredly, I could not have met with one more suitable than this--of abandoning without pain and without regret an alliance so illustrious, and a lady so perfect and so passionately beloved by me, since by this resignation which I am making I please in some way your Majesty. Yes, Sire, I renounce it for ever, and trust that this new love may bring you as much joy as the loss of it would occasion me distress, were it not that the consideration of your Majesty prevents me feeling it.’ “Then the King embraced me and wept, assuring me that he would make my fortune as if I were one of his natural children, and that he loved me dearly, of which I should be assured, and that he would recompense my honesty and my friendship. The arrival of the princes and nobles made me rise, and, when the King recalled me and told me again that he intended me to marry his cousin d’Aumale, I answered that he had the power to prevent my marriage, but, as for marrying elsewhere, ‘that is a thing which I will never do.’ And with that our conversation terminated.” That day Bassompierre dined with the Duc d’Épernon, to whom he related what the King had said to him. D’Épernon was disposed to make light of the matter. “It is merely a caprice of the King,” said he, “which will pass as quickly as it came. Do not be alarmed about it; for when _Monsieur le Prince_ understands what the King’s intentions are, he will not commit himself.” Bassompierre tried to persuade himself that such was the case, and, on the duke’s advice, said nothing to anyone else about the matter. In the evening, as he and two or three other gentlemen were playing at dice with the King at a table placed beside his bed, the Duchesse d’Angoulême entered the room with her niece, whom she had brought, it appeared, in response to a message from his Majesty. The King immediately ceased playing and had a long and earnest conversation with the duchess on the further side of the bed. Then he called Mlle. de Montmorency and spoke to her also for a long time. It was evident that he informed her that Bassompierre had renounced his pretensions to her hand, and that he intended to bestow it upon the Prince de Condé, for when the conversation came to an end and the girl turned away, she glanced in her unfortunate suitor’s direction and shrugged her pretty shoulders.