Pollnitz laughed aloud, “You betrayed yourself, my friend; or, if you prefer it, my worldly wisdom and cunning betrayed you.  My young and innocent friend, a man like Pollnitz is not easily deceived; his eyes are sharp enough to pierce the veil of the most charming little intrigue, and probe it to the bottom!  I know the Princess Amelia; I have known her too long, not to know that she would not so quickly, and without a struggle, sacrifice her love; and further when I saw at the last court-ball, with what a long and dreary face you stood behind the chair of the poor Marwitz, and with what calm and smiling content the princess watched the couple amoureuse, look you, Trenck, then I knew and understood all.”

“Well, then, as you understand all, I make no further attempt to deceive you.  Yes, God be praised! the princess loves me still.  It is indeed the princess whom I meet in the apartment of the maid of honor; to Marwitz are the letters directed which my servant carries every morning to the palace, and from the Princess Amelia do I receive my answers.  Yes, God be thanked!  Amelia loves me, and one day she will be mine in the eyes of the whole world, even as she is now mine in the eyes of God and the angels; one day—­”

“Stop, stop!” cried Pollnitz interrupting him; “that last sentence must be explained before you rush on with your dithyrambics.  You have declared that the princess is yours in the sight of God:  what does that mean?”

“That means,” said Trenck, “that God, who looks into our hearts, knows the eternity and boundlessness of our love; that means that, under God’s heaven, and calling upon His holy name, we have sworn never to forget our love and our faith, and never to form any other alliance.”

“So nothing more than that—­no secret marriage?  Are you never alone with the princess?”

“No, never!  I have given her my word of honor never even to ask it, and I will keep my oath.  And, after all, the good Marwitz disturbs us not; she gets as far from us as possible:  she seems to see us not, and we speak in such low tones, that she does not hear a word we utter.”

“Ah! so the Marwitz does not disturb you?” cried Pollnitz, with a cynical laugh.  “O sancta simplicitas! and this is an officer of the life-guard?  The world is going to destruction; or it is becoming innocent and pure as Paradise.  It is time for me to die; I no longer understand this pitiful world.”

“I do not understand you, and I will not understand you,” said Trenck gravely.  “You laugh at me, and call me a silly boy, and I allow it.  I know we cannot understand each other in such matters; you cannot conceive what strength, what self-denial, what energy I exert to make myself worthy of the pure, modest, and exalted love which Amelia has consecrated to me.  You cannot comprehend how often my good and evil genius struggle for the mastery, how often I pray God to keep me from temptation.  No, I have sworn that this love shall wave pure and unblemished, like a glorious banner over my whole life; come death rather than dishonor!  And now, friend, explain your meaning:  why all these plots and counterplots?  What is your object?”