Here he lowered his voice.
"You know our King," continued he, with a strange smile; "he is a most munificent lord, he scatters broadcast the gold I am compelled to extort from his poor subjects. There is not a monarch more munificent than he, but at the same time there is not a monarch who requires such continual pleasures. He breaks horse-shoes, and he breaks women; then he casts them both away. The friend he embraces to-day, he imprisons to-morrow in Königstein. He is a good King! He smiles until the last moment on the victims he is sending to the scaffold. He has a compassionate heart, but no one must oppose him."
He dropped his voice still lower, looking round the room suspiciously.
"He likes new mistresses: like the dragon in the fairy tale, he lives on the maidens brought him by the frightened population; he destroys them. Who can count the number of his victims? You may perhaps have heard the names of some of them, but the number of those who are unknown is three times greater than the number of those whose names are recorded. The King is a man of strange taste; for two days he is in love with the lady dressed in silks; then tiring of her he is ready to love the woman in rags. Königsmark is still beautiful; Spiegel is by no means plain; Princess Teschen still enjoys his favours; but he is tired of them all. Again he is seeking whom he may devour! Ah! he is a great lord! He is beautiful as Apollo, strong as Hercules, lecherous as a Satyr, and terrible as Jupiter."
"Why are you telling me all this?" exclaimed Anna angrily. "Do you think I am so wicked, that at the King's desire I should forsake the path of honour? It is plain you do not yet know me! You insult me!"
Hoym looked on her with compassion.
"I know my Anna," replied he, "but I also know the court, the King, and the people who surround him."
"I have sworn to be faithful to you, and that is sufficient," she retorted proudly. "You do not possess my heart, it is true, but you have my word. Women such as I do not break their vows."
"The Princess Teschen is proud!"
Anna shrugged her shoulders contemptuously.