"And whom do you suspect?"
"My ideas are still too vague to be able to communicate them to you, but I am working on the matter and as soon as I discover anything I will tell you about it immediately."
Mersburg went from his interview with the prince to see Adelaide.
"Milady," he said, "the conduct of Frederick toward you begins to give me some uneasiness. If I did not feel how important it was for you to remain here, I would tell you to leave. A second absence might compromise you more than ever."
"What is there now?" cried Adelaide, uneasy, "is there some new danger for me?"
"It is always a question of the same suspicions which are producing the same effects. You did not try hard enough the other day to destroy those unfortunate suspicions. You should have defended yourself better."
"What could I do when I felt no love for him. The appearance of one wrong will make him think of a thousand. I am the unhappiest of all woman."
"I fear that he is observing Thuringia, and if he suspects him what will become of us?"
"I will flee rather than expose him to the slightest danger."
"You can do more by staying here. Your departure, useless moreover, would make your lover die of sorrow. Don't worry. I am watching over everything. If we need to take serious steps, we will have to do so."
"Great Heavens! Of what steps are you speaking?"
"I don't know yet what the circumstances will require, but in any case it will require more courage than you have shown up to now. Think that great crimes are sometimes more necessary than great virtues and that to arrive at happiness, one has to resort to certain measures."
"Ah, I never want to be happy at that price."
"You will at least let us act for you?"
"I will never consent to any crime."
"Can sovereigns ever prevent this type of crime? Oh, I despair for you if you keep on in such errors."
"But what do you mean? … Explain yourself."
"I cannot do so yet. All depends on events."
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