ince then we have lived, I do not disguise
it, by play; but who can say I have done him a wrong? Yet, if I could
find myself in an honourable post, and with an assured maintenance, I
would never, except for amusement, such as every gentleman must have,
touch a card again. I beseech your Highness to inquire of your resident
at Berlin if I did not on every occasion act as a gallant soldier. I
feel that I have talents of a higher order, and should be proud to have
occasion to exert them; if, as I do not doubt, my fortune shall bring
them into play.'

The candour of this statement struck his Highness greatly, and impressed
him in my favour, and he was pleased to say that he believed me, and
would be glad to stand my friend.

Having thus the two Dukes, the Duchess, and the reigning favourite
enlisted on my side, the chances certainly were that I should carry off
the great prize; and I ought, according to all common calculations, to
have been a Prince of the Empire at this present writing, but that
my ill luck pursued me in a matter in which I was not the least to
blame,--the unhappy Duchess's attachment to the weak, silly, cowardly
Frenchman. The display of this love was painful to witness, as its end
was frightful to think of. The Princess made no disguise of it. If
Magny spoke a word to a lady of her household, she would be jealous, and
attack with all the fury of her tongue the unlucky offender. She would
send him a half-dozen of notes in the day: at his arrival to join her
circle or the courts which she held, she would brighten up, so that all
might perceive. It was a wonder that her husband had not long ere this
been made aware of her faithlessness; but the Prince Victor was himself
of so high and stern a nature that he could not believe in her stooping
so far from her rank as to forget her virtue: and I have heard say,
that when hints were given to him of the evident partiality which the
Princess showed for the equerry, his answer was a stern command never
more to be troubled on the subject. 'The Princess is light-minded,' he
said; 'she was brought up at a frivolous Court; but her folly goes not
beyond coquetry: crime is impossible; she has her birth, and my name,
and her children, to defend her.' And he would ride off to his
military inspections and be absent for weeks, or retire to his suite of
apartments, and remain closeted there whole days; only appearing to
make a bow at her Highness's LEVEE, or to give her his