'Madam,' Brühl interrupted, 'there are things about which one must not speak; to betray them means--'
'You don't need to tell me that, I know everything. I can reveal to you, what you think is a secret. Augustus II wished to be famous by his amours, his pious son would not wish to be suspected of it. Therefore everything must be arranged in such a way that nobody can see or hear.'
She laughed ironically.
'I expect, if I give you power, favour, that I must have something in return, and I demand that my fancies shall be respected; and it is quite sure I shall have fancies. I am anxious to know life, I am thirsty for it; I must become intoxicated in order to forget my pain. Do you think,' said she with animation, 'that I shall ever forget about that unfortunate man? I see the walls, between which he is shut, the dark room, hard bed, the face of his jailer, and himself looking through a small window. But in that man dwells a strong spirit, which may keep him alive till the door of the prison is opened. Is it true that your other victim, the poor Hoym, has hanged himself in the prison?'
Brühl looked at the floor.
'Yes,' he said drily, 'it is no great loss; I shall not cry for him.'
'Nor I either,' rejoined Frances, 'but I shall never forget the other man. You understand that the hand that has done this, although I was bound to it in church,--cannot touch mine. We are and shall remain strangers.'
She smiled ironically and continued:
'You became a Catholic, although this is also a secret. It commends you to me! What tact and policy! The king of Poland must have a Catholic for his minister in Poland--Brühl there is Catholic; the Kurfürst of Saxony must have a Protestant minister in Saxony: Brühl here will be a zealous Lutheran. If Zinzendorf became King of the Moravian Brothers I am sure you would belong to the Herrnhut community--C'est parfait! C'est délicieux!'
'Madam,' said Brühl with emotion in his voice, 'unknowingly you wound me very severely. I am a Christian and a pious one; denomination to me is a secondary thing, by the Gospel, our Saviour's love--'