Page:Marquis de Sade - Adelaide of Brunswick.djvu/142

 "One is never the most unhappy of men as long as one has a sincere friend and I assure you that I am your friend for life."

Since the unhappy Dourlach seemed too unconsolable, Adelaide finally admitted to him that things were not right in her own life and that she needed his moral support.

"You are unhappy, Milady? With how many torments you tear my heart."

Adelaide at this instant told him who she really was.

"Milady," said the baron throwing himself to his knees before her, "your titles do not increase my love, but they do not take anything away from it, and the one who adored the Baroness of Neuhaus will devote the rest of his life to serving the Princess of Saxony."

"I give to you all the loving qualities which a friend can expect from a friend. Misfortunes have caused me to leave my court for some time. I am now returning and I hope you will come with me and enjoy the rights which friendship gives you to my affection. You know to what point princes need such a consolation, it is so rare on the throne … Swear to me that I will always find it in you."

The unhappy baron threw himself on his knees again and swore to her that as long as she lived, his heart, which she could not accept, would be devoted to her.

After this touching scene, a calm came to both of them, and Dourlach and his sister from that time on spent all their time trying to make their royal visitor happy in their home.

After a little more than a week at Regensburg, the princess said to Dourlach that it was necessary for her to move on. The baron, far from being cured of his deep love for the princess, had learned to love her even more during this period and at the thought of her leaving, he almost fainted. Although he had known that this moment was going to arrive sooner or later, he was totally unprepared to accept it when it came. Adelaide, in her turn, shared the grief of her friend and made him swear again to come to see her at Dresden where she expected to stay for some time.

Our two travelers now left for Nuremberg with the plan of spending several days there. There existed, near Nuremberg a celebrated convent of the order of St. Benoit which had been