CHAPTER THREE
Several months passed thus without the marquis' being able to talk to the one he adored and without Adelaide's being able to give him any consoling message. One noticed at court the sombre and care-worn look which had been present for some time on the face of the ruler and everybody attempted to interpret this crisis in his feelings. As in all courts the face of the monarch is the thermometer of the status of affairs.
Everybody knew that the count had frequent interviews with his master, but as nothing happened, it was impossible to form any kind of conjecture. The delays of a second interview were beginning to make Thuringia uneasy when one day Mersburg came to reassure him.
"Tomorrow, in the same place where you have already seen each other," he said to the marquis, "the princess will wait for you at sunset. Be exactly on time and do not fear anything. I have seen the prince several times since your last rendezvous, and for a while his suspicions seemed to be increasing. I don't know whether the shadow you saw was that of a person placed there to surprise you or not; but in any case, I have calmed the ideas of the prince, and I believe that he has recovered completely from his former fears."
"Was I the object of these fears?" the marquis asked.
"No. His suspicions were vague. They were not directly concerned with any person."
"And you have calmed him?"
"Completely. You can be entirely tranquil about tomorrow, but you must be exactly on time. Let Adelaide arrive first. The watches will call out six o'clock just as she arrives in the little clump of woods. You must arrive exactly a quarter of
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