Page:Marquis de Sade - Adelaide of Brunswick.djvu/25

 sovereigns? Why did he give me the painful duty of considering for a while as my wife this beautiful woman, and yet be prevented by duty from taking her as my wife? Did he think I was without feeling, that I could help falling in love with so much beauty?"

"Certainly," interrupted the Count von Mersburg, "any misfortune which comes from this imprudence on his part should fall on him alone and you should be excused for any feelings which his acts have brought."

"No matter how much he is to blame, nothing will make me break the law of honor. That law is engraved in the soul of any true Saxon and he would never break it. Our ancestors defied Charlemagne when he wanted us to break that law, and as you know, we preferred his daggers to his promises. Besides, even loving Adelaide, I would never do anything to make her seem untrue in the eyes of her husband. Any weakening of her vows towards her husband would make me esteem her less and as you know, my dear count, esteem is the first element of love. One does not pardon the faults that a woman commits even when she commits them through love. Love which is not based on esteem is no more than a form of delirium of the senses which leads us astray. True happiness cannot come from such delirium."

"There are some sentiments which are worthy of a noble knight, but it would not be hard to show you that these are false. If your Adelaide loves you, is it not clear that by not answering this love you would make her unhappy? And by yielding to the love, you will say that you make the husband unhappy. I ask you, since it is necessary to make one person unhappy, why would you prefer the happiness of the husband rather than that of the wife? One has served you, I know; but the other adores you, perhaps, in silence. It is a question here of sacrificing either the cold feeling of gratitude or the burning sentiment of love. I wonder what heart could even hesitate in choosing?"

"The one which is guided by virtue, my friend. You have put it aside in your discussion. There is no question of considering whom I am going to hurt, the only thing that counts is virtue and this sentiment opposes all your ideas. Besides,"