"
"It needs no questioning on my part," the countess said, "to know
that she loves you as truly, and that her happiness depends wholly
on you. I saw her anguish when the news came of the terrible defeat
at Nordlingen and of the annihilation of some of the Scottish
regiments. My heart was wrung by her silent despair, her white and
rigid face, until the news came that you were among the few who had
survived the battle, and, in the outburst of joy and thankfulness
at the news, she owned to me that she loved you, her only fear being
that you cared for her only as a sister, since no word of love had
ever passed your lips. I reassured her on that score by telling her
of your conversation with her father, and that a feeling of duty
alone had kept you silent while she remained under your protection.
"However, Malcolm, she will not come to you penniless, for, seeing
that it was possible that the war would terminate adversely, and
determined to quit the country should he be forbidden to worship
according to his own religion here, the count has from time to time
despatched considerable sums to the care of a banker at Hamburg,
and there are now 10,000 gold crowns in his hands.
"There are, moreover, my estates at Silesia, but these I have for
sometime foreseen would follow those of my husband and fall into
the hands of the emperor. Before the death of the count I talked
over the whole matter with him, and he urged me in any case, even
should you fall before becoming the husband of Thekla, to leave
this unhappy country and to take refuge abroad.
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