CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Prince of Saxony had not yet unburdened his heart to the Marquis of Thuringia. He sent for him with the intention of doing that.
"I am the most unhappy of men, my dear cousin," he said on seeing him, "I have found my wife again only to find the torment of my life. How much happier I would have been if she had always stayed in her own country, and you had not brought her here. She has come to the point of being no longer able to hide her shame. Instead of answering my reproaches, she blushes because of them and her frankness, the only virtue which she has, only serves to double the torments of my life."
"But what proofs do you have of the wrongs which you attribute to her?"
"Her embarrassment and confusion when I question her on her conduct."
"Ah, my Prince, how feeble are such proofs. Don't you know that any such accusation makes a woman blush? What modest woman would not be alarmed by such words. If it is true that you no longer suspect young Kaunitz, on whom do your suspicions now remain? Allow me to say, Prince, that your situation is the result of your own imagination. You are seriously in error and all this is causing you to be the unhappiest of men when you should be the happiest."
"I am not convinced, like you," said the prince, "of her innocence with Kaunitz. What was she going to do at that rendezvous? But even if she were not guilty, how do you excuse the fact that against my orders she left Torgau and fled
156
