Page:Marquis de Sade - Adelaide of Brunswick.djvu/88

 had taken refuge a very rickety carriage which was pulled by an old horse. The owner of the inn offered to take them to Frankfort in this vehicle, and they accepted at once.

Once arrived in this big city, already famous for its commerce and the riches of its merchants, they immediately bought suitable clothes. In a few hours they had found rooms and were resting, and for the first time in a long while they felt fairly safe.

Through an indefinable presentiment, Adelaide kept thinking about the two knights who had saved her life, and the princess was hoping all the time that one of them might have been the one who was so cherished in her heart. But since there was nothing about the two men which would cause her to believe that one was her beloved, her attention went to plans for the future. While she is making these plans, let's return to Frederick and Mersburg.

These two gentlemen went towards Trier where they awaited their squire, the faithful Pitreman.

"Well," they said when he had joined them at the inn, "what did those two young people say about the services which we gave them?"

"They were full of gratitude, Milord," said the squire, "but if you will permit me to say so, I believe that those two individuals were not of our sex, and if you had permitted me to be a little more curious, I would know even more."

"I suspected that they were women," said Mersburg.

"Perhaps they are women who consort with the bandits who frequent these woods," suggested the squire.

"I am convinced that they were women," said Frederick, "but I don't think you are right concerning their morals, from the way they acted, I feel sure that they were women of a higher type. I am sorry now I didn't speak to them."

They were discussing this case when the mail from Dresden arrived. Frederick was always careful to inform the marquis of his address in order that he could receive news from time to time. Frederick learned that the Emperor was renewing his attempts to subdue Saxony and that he was marching with a big army on Dresden, which obliged the marquis to raise an army from the provinces in order to be able to warn off such a