'Very pathetic,' whispered the woman. 'What more?'
'Had I the heart, I would curse the hour I first saw you,' said Brühl passionately. 'But a glance at you conquers me. You have a power over me possessed by no one else.'
'Is that true?' the woman coolly inquired.
'Is it necessary to swear it to you?'
'I do not need your oath. I merely wanted to be convinced, and very often an oath fails.'
She looked at him piercingly.
'But my love--' said Brühl.
The woman laughed.
'Brühl,' she said, 'I believe you were in love with me, I am not surprised at that. I was young, I had a good name and I could assure a splendid future to the man I married; but your love might have been that we see everyday, burning in the morning and quenched in the evening. I do not want such love.'
'I gave you proof of my constancy,' said Brühl with animation. 'My love for you began when I was a mere lad and was not quenched even when you took all hope away; it lasts although repulsed and despised.'