“[LUISBURG,] _Twelve midnight_ [_Saturday_]. “I could not finish this afternoon. The Electress prevented me from bathing to-day. She tells me I have so very few days to remain here that she wishes me to be with her. However, I shall take a bath to-morrow.... I have never felt the force of my love for you more than now—except perhaps in our most rapturous moments. I tell you again, my life and my peace are in your hands. _Mon Dieu!_ how dear you are to me! how dearly I love you! I shall never be happy until we are together all our life long. When will that bliss come? How I long and yearn for it! Such joy as that cannot be bought too dearly.... They tell me La Platen is not coming here after all; I am not surprised to hear it. I should have been astonished if she had come as long as _you_ remain in Hanover. She is quite free now, and, should you take advantage, the opportunity is excellent. I am absent, and _les absents ont toujours tort_. But no! you would be incapable of anything of the kind. You are loving, tender, and true; it is a crime to suspect you.” [Illustration: HERRENHAUSEN.] _Königsmarck to the Princess._ “[HANOVER,] _June_ 13/23. “I am waiting to show you how absence has wasted me. I must know the hour, the day, and where I am to come. I will see to the rest. But tell me, how will you be able to keep me hidden without endangering yourself? The risk I run is not very great, and to see the one who loves me I would willingly be torn in pieces. “Let me kiss the beautiful lips that kissed me so sweetly. Ah! when we meet we will show the sweet violence of our passion by the tenderest tokens. I would give my blood this very moment for one sip of your honey lips. I know battles are dangerous for us men, particularly against the Danes, for we always lose; but if you really wish to dispute the fact that I have more passion, more constancy, more devotion than you, I accept your challenge. Know this: for two months I have been preparing myself to meet the attack, and as it is long since I have taken up arms, I might be overcome. Yet I will fight a duel with you with the greatest possible joy. I only wish to know the _rendezvous_, the arms, and the seconds. My weapons will be my eyes and my mouth.... Choose a day and hour when duty will not hinder me from coming, and you will see how I shall fly to you. Come out when it suits you. I am glad you give me the chance.