[FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA]
[Hanover, _latter part of 1693_].[250]
In fear of not being able to speak to you, I take the liberty of
expressing to you my concern at the misfortune which has happened
to you. God knows that my heart forewarned me of it; but my
companion was never willing to wait, although I begged him to do
so; but, by way of climax to my ill luck, I have to wait till my
intimate friend has had the pleasure with his troublesome
companion of an interview with you; it seems to me that I have
great reason to complain of the Gods, as they are unjust enough to
deprive me of all means of being serviceable to you, while at the
same time they furnish such means to those from whom I have most
to fear. Since this accident strange things have come into my
head, and I am foolish enough to believe that the accident which
happened yesterday is a prognostic of my ill luck, and that this
is the same man who will be the cause of all these troubles to me.
The result will be that I shall have him watched as closely as
possible while I am away, and, if I hear the slightest thing,
believe me as a man of honour that I will never see you again, and
that I would rather seek out the innermost parts of Lapland than
appear before those eyes which [once] enchanted me. I detest my
companion, for without this I should have had the pleasure of
serving you, instead of my seeing this joy in the breast of a man
whom I abhor, and who is impertinent enough to come and tell me of
it himself, informing me of the condition in which you were, your
_déshabillement_, without a cap, your hair loose over your
incomparable bosom. O God, I am too furious to write any more.
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Footnote 250:
This and the following two letters might belong to the spring of
1692; but I think that they may with more probability be assigned
to the latter part of 1693.
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