The duke expected to oblige his son to marry her.

On learning from d'Artagnon that Etienne was in love with the daughter of a miserable physician, he was only the more determined to carry out the marriage.

What could such a man comprehend of love,--he who had let his own wife die beside him without understanding a single sigh of her heart?
Never, perhaps, in his life had he felt such violent anger as when the last despatch of the baron told him with what rapidity Beauvouloir's plans were advancing,--the baron attributing them wholly to the bonesetter's ambition.

The duke ordered out his equipages and started for Rouen, bringing with him the Comtesse de Grandlieu, her sister the Marquise de Noirmoutier, and Mademoiselle de Grandlieu, under pretext of showing them the province of Normandy.
A few days before his arrival a rumor was spread about the country--by what means no one seemed to know--of the passion of the young Duc de Nivron for Gabrielle Beauvouloir.

People in Rouen spoke of it to the Duc d'Herouville in the midst of a banquet given to celebrate his return to the province; for the guests were glad to deliver a blow to the despot of Normandy.