You, Kate, you are different, and I am glad of it. You know, I have
forever banished Elizabeth from my court and from my heart, and
still you intercede for her. That is noble of you, and I love you
for it, and grant you your request. And that you may see how I love
and trust you, I will now reveal to you a secret: I have long since
wished to have Elizabeth with me, but I was ashamed, even to myself,
of this weakness. I have long yearned once again to look into my
daughter's large deep eyes, to be a kind and tender father to her,
and make some amends to her for the wrong I perhaps may have done to
her mother. For sometimes, in sleepless nights, Anne's beautiful
face comes up before me and gazes at me with mournful, mild look,
and my whole heart shudders before it. But I could not confess this
to anybody, for then they might say that I repented what I had done.
A king must be infallible, like God himself, and never, through
regret or desire to compensate, confess that he is a weak, erring
mortal, like others. You see why I repressed my longing and parental
tenderness, which was suspected by no one, and appeared to be a
heartless father, because nobody would help me and make it easy for
me to be a tender father. Ah, these courtiers! They are so stupid,
that they can understand only just what is echoed in our words; but
what our heart says, and longs for, of that they know nothing. But
you know, Kate; you are an acute woman, and a high-minded one
besides.
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