[FROM KÖNIGSMARCK TO SOPHIA DOROTHEA]
[Hanover, _latter part of 1693_.]
Anyone but myself would put you to the proof, to see whether your
love will carry you so far as to come to me; but, as for me, I
love you too much to be able to expose you to this risk, and your
offer is sufficient for me. However, in order not to lose the
occasion of seeing you (since I have so little time for remaining
with you) I will come to you this evening, if you consent; and I
shall wait to hear from you the hour of the _rendez-vous_. If you
think it well that I should appear at court, I will do so, but not
otherwise. The joy of seeing you again makes me forget all the
trouble that my illness has brought upon me; for the rest, I am
well enough pleased with you; I cannot, however, forget how little
opposition you have to offer on the subject of my journey, having
a good excuse for dissuading me from it; I do not know at what
judgment to arrive on the subject.[251] Only, may God grant that
this absence may not prove of deadly import to me! You accuse me
of not loving you enough; how can you be so unjust, but I will
pass over this point without reply, knowing well that you are too
fully convinced of my love, which is the purest that ever existed,
and which will last so long as I live. I have often protested this
to you in prose; permit me on the present occasion to do it in
verse:
While breath within my heart remains, Beloved is _votre nom_ by
me; So long as blood runs in my veins, It shall retain the mark of
thee; And with the current of my days, Love shall remain with me
always.
At 6 o’clock my man shall be in front of the room of the _bonne,
bonne amie_.[252]
-----
Footnote 251:
The reference seems to be to his intention to quit the Hanoverian
service.
Footnote 252:
Fräulein von dem Knesebeck.
-----