"Oh! Lord of Bothwell, in pursuit of this ideal vengeance thou hast destroyed me."
"Forgive me," said the Earl, laying a hand kindly upon his shoulder; "forgive one who has endured all that you now feel; but, mark me, a time will come when thou wilt despise the woman who could so coldly desert thee for another."
"Oh, never!" said the young man earnestly—"never!"
"Remember the old saw that sayeth, 'There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it.' Thou art still young, Konrad; thy years"——
"Have scarcely numbered two-and-twenty, and already I am tired of life."
"Thou art mistaken; the old man may weary of existence, but the young man never. The ardour of thy love will die"——
"Never, my lord—I tell thee, never!"
"Ha! ha!—how, dost thou love her still?"
"God alone knows how deeply and how dearly."
"Jesu! after she hath so misused thee? This is indeed the love of romance," said the Earl, who thought he now saw some hope of ridding himself of Anna, and so doing both himself and her lover a service. "Well, Konrad, if thy passion is the same, and if Anna might be restored to thee"——