madman he would speak only of Spain, of Madame de Bourgogne, of Nangis, whom he wished to kill or to have assassinated; now full of remorse towards M. de Bourgogne, he made reflections so curious to hear, that no one dared to remain with him, and he was left alone.  At other times, recalling his early days, he had nothing but ideas of retreat and penitence.  Then a confession was necessary in order to banish his despair as to the mercy of God.  Often he thought himself very ill and upon the point of death.

The world, however, and even his nearest friends persuaded themselves that he was only playing a part; and hoping to put an end to it, they declared to him that he passed for mad in society, and that it behoved him to rise out of such a strange state and show himself.  This was the last blow and it overwhelmed him.  Furious at finding that this opinion was ruining all the designs of his ambition, he delivered himself up to despair.  Although watched with extreme care by his wife, by particular friends, and by his servants, he took his measures so well, that on the Good Friday of the year 1706, at about eight o’clock in the morning, he slipped away from them all, entered a passage behind his room, opened the window, threw himself into the court below, and dashed out his brains upon the pavement.  Such was the end of an ambitious man, who, by his wild and dangerous passions, lost his wits, and then his life, a tragic victim of himself.

Madame de Bourgogne learnt the news at night.  In public she showed no emotion, but in private some tears escaped her.  They might have been of pity, but were not so charitably interpreted.  Soon after, it was noticed that Madame de Maintenon seemed embarrassed and harsh towards Madame de Bourgogne.  It was no longer doubted that Madame de Maintenon had heard the whole story.  She often had long interviews with Madame de Bourgogne, who always left them in tears.  Her sadness grew so much, and her eyes were so often red, that Monsieur de Bourgogne at last became alarmed.  But he had no suspicion of the truth, and was easily satisfied with the explanation he received.  Madame de Bourgogne felt the necessity, however, of appearing gayer, and showed herself so.  As for the Abbe de Polignac, it was felt that that dangerous person was best away.  He received therefore a post which called him away, as it were, into exile; and though he delayed his departure as long as possible, was at length obliged to go.  Madame de Bourgogne took leave of him in a manner that showed how much she was affected.  Some rather insolent verses were written upon this event; and were found written on a balustrade by Madame, who was not discreet enough or good enough to forget them.  But they made little noise; everybody loved Madame de Bourgogne, and hid these verses as much as possible.

CHAPTER XXXII