Yes, I believe that at the thought of her my heart beats more quickly, more longingly than if I had her in my arms." "The reason of this," said Pollnitz, almost sympathetically, "is that it is your first love." Prince Henry looked at him angrily.
"You are wrong and most unjust to this beautiful woman, who remained good and pure in the midst of the corrupting and terrible circumstances in which destiny placed her.

She preserved a chaste heart, an unspotted soul.

Her misfortunes only refined her, and therefore I love her, and believe that God has placed me in her way that, after all her sufferings, I might make her happy.

Oh, precisely because of her sorrows, the shameful slanders with which she is pursued, and all for which she is reproached, I love her." "Well, my prince," sighed Pollnitz, with a tragical expression, "I never saw a bolder hero and a more pious Christian than your highness." "What do you mean by that, Pollnitz ?" "That an enormous amount of bravery is necessary, prince, to believe Madame von Kleist chaste and innocent, and that only a pious Christian can count himself so entirely among those of whom Christ says, 'Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.' May a good fairy long preserve you your bravery and your Christianity! But surely your highness must have important and convincing proofs to believe in the innocence and faithfulness of this woman.

I confess that any other man would have been discouraged in his godlike belief by facts.