'Is it love or ambition?' asked the woman. 'For with you ambition dominates everything.'
'I do not deny that since I cannot be happy, my aim is now to be strong and to be feared.'
The woman looked at him and spoke slowly.
'I do not know what the future may have in store for us. Wait, be faithful to me. I will be frank with you; I was fond of you; with you I could have been happy; we are alike in character.--But things are better as they are. Husband and wife are two fighting enemies; we can be faithful friends to each other.'
'Friends!' said Brühl, 'it sounds like a funeral to my love for you. Your husband will be your lover and I your friend; that means a despised friend.'
'A husband a lover?' said the woman laughing. 'Where did you hear of that? Those two words swear at each other. My husband, I hate him, I despise him, I can't bear him!'
'But you married him.'
'My father, the King, married me to him; but believe me, it is well that it happened so. With him my heart is free, I am myself and shall preserve myself for the future. I believe in my star.'
'Will our stars ever meet?'
'If they are destined for each other, they will.'