Page:Marquis de Sade - Adelaide of Brunswick.djvu/98

 men when she found a man who could win her respect again.

Dourlach withdrew, not too sorry to have a discouraging report to give to the margrave. He believed that Adelaide was not entirely unresponsive and that perhaps he would do well to work a little for himself.

This conceit was pardonable at the age of twenty-eight, but did it have any real foundation? How could the Princess of Saxony suddenly give up all her natural pride and forget her violent love for the Marquis of Thuringia? Let us hasten to find her motives.

It is difficult to imagine such a complete change of character. Adelaide was still true in her heart to the man she loved and she was in no way false to him. A woman is false when she pretends to have affection where neither the affection nor the need for pretense exists. On the other hand, a woman is only adroit and clever when she pretends the same sentiments under circumstances which force her to do so; especially when she does not accord her favors to any other man than the one she loves. If she only makes a man hope for her favors she is not being untrue to the man she loves. The following conversation will develop this idea:

"Milady," said Bathilda, who had noticed some of the little game which had just taken place, "am I mistaken in what I think?"

"I am sure you are," said the princess, "for you suppose that I am in love with Dourlach when as a matter of fact, I am only in love with freedom."

"But your eyes let this young man have the hope that he could win you; even away from his master."

"That is because I don't want either one of them, my dear Bathilda, and I see here the possibility of getting rid of one by playing up to the other. But let's not put too much faith in my methods; they could easily fail. Rarely does anything succeed when one puts all his hopes in it."

While the two women were talking, the baron was trying to soothe the ruffled spirits of the margrave. He advised his master to go slowly and that he would plead his case with the captive.

Dourlach had everything to gain through an arrangement