Alexandre Dumas - The Last Cavalier - Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon

“Weakness, yes,” the duke repeated, “but happiness at the same time. A weakness for which I risk my neck three or four times a month by crossing the Rhine to see an adorable woman, a woman whom I love. People think an estrangement from my cousins and father is keeping me in Germany. No, monsieur. What is keeping me here in Germany is my love, my burning, superlative, invincible love, which is more important to me than my duty. People wonder where I go, they wonder where I am, they think I’m conspiring. Alas! Alas! I am in love, and that is all!”

“Love is a grand and sacred thing when it can make a Bourbon forget even his duty,” Grisolles murmured with a smile. “Do not forsake your love, my prince. And may you be happy! That, you may be sure, is man’s true destiny.” Grisolles rose to his feet to take leave of the prince.

“Oh,” said the duke, “you cannot leave just like that.”

“Why should I stay?”

“Hear me out a little longer, monsieur. Never before have I spoken to anyone about my love, and my love overwhelms me. I have confided in you, but that is not enough. I want to tell you about it in full. You have stepped into the happy, joyous side of my existence, for she has made it so, and I must describe for you how beautiful she is, how intelligent, how devoted. Please have dinner with me, monsieur, and after dinner, well, then you may leave me, but at least I shall have had the luxury of talking to you about her for two hours. I have been in love with her for three years. Just think of that, and I have never spoken one word to anyone about her.”

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