Page:Marquis de Sade - Adelaide of Brunswick.djvu/92

 and his wife to have dinner with her. This was the beginning of her social career in Frankfort and soon everybody was talking about the magnificence and the beauty of this stranger whom all admired and whom, fortunately, nobody recognized.

With the help of Burdorf, the princess enjoyed all the pleasures which the city could offer; but a heart caught in the meshes of love lives only in the hope of being with the loved one. There is nothing interesting in life except that which recalls him, and unfortunately Louis of Thuringia was not in Frankfort. He was fighting against the imperial troops of Henry VI. Since Adelaide knew this, the dissipations of Frankfort did not succeed in giving her any relief from her worries about the safety of her beloved.

"Oh, my dear Bathilda," she often said to her companion, "do you believe that these pleasures can satisfy my heart, my heart which is filled with adoration for the Marquis of Thuringia? To be deprived of his presence, not to know when the happiness of seeing him again may come, to think of him in the midst of dangers which his bravery only increases; all this torments me frightfully. It may be, that already pierced with the sword of the enemy, he lies among the dead. No matter how glorious the laurels are that he is winning, I tremble at the thought that they may be covered with his blood."

Bathilda did all she could to calm the princess, but she had only the cold eloquence of the mind, which has ever proved useless in understanding the heart of a lover.

Among the persons of importance enjoying the festivities of the season in Frankfort was the Margrave of Baden, the ruler of that part of Swabia of which the frontiers are bathed by the Rhine and the mineral waters of which have such a great reputation today. The margrave met Adelaide in the public gatherings and was much impressed by her. In fact, she made such an impression on him that he soon fell violently in love with her. He began to seek information about her and could only learn her name and that her origin was unknown. He sent word to Adelaide that he wanted to court her. The princess, irritated at this light manner of treating a woman like her, sent word to him that she was only staying in