of the presence of two dissatisfied wives, Elianor and Celia, who are looking to revenge themselves on their ungrateful husbands, to offer tempting targets for Nemours' seductions.
Nemours himself has discovered another object on whom to focus his attentions, the virtuous and conscience-stricken Princess of Cleves. The lady was already engaged to marry the prince, content merely to admire her love-struck husband, when Nemours saved his life. Glimpsing the dashing duke, the princess was smitten by Nemours but nevertheless went through with her marriage. She knows that Nemours will probably not make a good partner. She tells him, "You have a sense too nice for long enjoyment" (5.3.168). However, she cannot rid herself of her passion, and her husband, sensing her unhappiness but unaware of its cause, urges her to unburden herself to him. She finally admits that she loves someone else but refuses at first to tell him the man's name. Soon she hears, "'Tis blazed at court - Nemours confessed/He is beloved by one of such nice virtue,/That, fearing lest the passion might betray her,/She owned, confessed, and told it to her husband" (3.2.77-80), and the court gossips instantly suspect that she is the lady in question.
The prince, already heartbroken, guesses the object of his wife's passion, his suspicion confirmed by her flustered reaction to hearing Nemours' name. He confronts Nemours, fights him, and loses the duel. Ultimately, his despair sends him into a fever from which he never recovers. The widowed princess is now free to accept Nemours' proposal of marriage. Instead, she turns him away, saying, "You were the cause/Of Cleves' untimely death, I swear I think/No less than if you had stabbed him through the heart" (5.3.129-131).
Lee departs significantly from the novel, however, in having her offer Nemours eventual hope: "Have patience./Expect what time, with such a love as mine,/May work in your behalf" (5.3.231-23...