"Oh, Milady, political marriages do not chain hearts as real love."
"You are right, Bathilda, I should not blush at my love because it is as pure as the one who has caused it. I have known Thuringia and I have loved him before I was the wife of Frederick, but men in their judgment do not consider the extent of the power of love which we have, and their unjust scorn falls on those who should merit only their indulgence."
At that moment the noise of a horse coming into the courtyard of the castle interrupted their conversation, and very soon they brought to the princess a man who asked to speak to her.
The man explained that he was from a nearby village and that he had been charged to assure the princess that she had no reason to be uneasy about the persons she had seen riding on the edge of the river, that these persons would not go to the chateau and that they were now on the way to Hamburg.
"But who were these persons?"
"I don't know, Milady," responded the messenger, "and as I am not to see them again there is no need for any answer."
"You see," said Bathilda when the man had disappeared, "there was no reason to be alarmed. The Count of Mersburg knows only too well what he owes you in order not to ward off any threat to your security."
"So be it," said the princess, "but I am still worried about the whole situation. It is certain that one of the men we have seen is the prince and the one who accompanied him was Mersburg. Why has the prince left his court? Why would he be traveling in the simple costume of a knight? Where is he going? What is the reason for the mystery which seems to surround all this? Perhaps the prince has executed the unhappy man that I love; perhaps he has found out that his suspicions of the unfortunate Kaunitz were absolutely unfounded and that he has sacrificed Thuringia to his insane jealousy. It is possible that Mersburg has, without knowing it, caused this terrible crime. He knew all the Marquis' secrets, and that is why this sudden trip of the prince worries me. And why didn't that man wait for an answer a little while ago?"
"Could Mersburg receive an answer?" suggested Bathilda. "Since he was obliged to follow your husband, he couldn't
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