Page:Marquis de Sade - Adelaide of Brunswick.djvu/154

 dare to have the same feelings that I have? Is it true that you wish to deny these feelings even to yourself?"

"Pardon, my dear friend," she said, "pardon these fears which hold me back. Your image is no less dear because of them, but you know as well as I do the obstacles which prevent our belonging to each other, those unfortunate bonds which keep me in the arms of another."

"We can find ways," interrupted the count, "of weakening these bonds and even of nullifying them."

"I cannot consent to anything of that type," said Adelaide. "My duty forbids any such act. And certainly it will not be you, Thuringia, you who respect your duties in life, who would want me to scorn mine. The laurels with which you have recently covered your forehead during the absence of Frederick would fade if you did anything so dishonorable."

"Can you ever believe," cried Thuringia, "that it is dishonorable to love?"

"Oh, Milady," said Mersburg, "you don't love my friend as he loves you."

"Is it not loving him to cherish his glory?"

"But," said the count, "suppose Frederick puts you back in prison."

"I will escape as I did before. You will both help me. If nothing succeeds then I would rather suffer than to betray my duty."

"Ah," said Thuringia with the expression of the most tender love, "I make an oath to perish a thousand times rather than see you exposed to new misfortunes. I shall avenge you myself."

"Take that thought out of your mind at once," cried the princess. "It might be legitimate in some cases, but in this case it becomes criminal."

"I will respect his life if he does not harm you, but I will destroy him if he hurts you."

Finally, after a thousand proofs of their love, the two friends asked Adelaide to tell them the story of her travels. She did so and when she arrived at the part in which she met the father of Kaunitz she turned to Mersburg with an expression of puzzlement.