"But why?"
"Have you never heard that Felix wishes to marry me?" Christine asked.
"Yes; I have heard so. I know nothing of the truth of the story," said the Countess.
"It is true enough. Oh, there is no romance in it, Elisabeth. I have some power and wealth in the state. It might be a good marriage for Felix. There you have the whole truth of it."
"And you do not love him?"
"I do not think so. How can I tell? I have lived all these years on the earth without knowing what love is. Love, perhaps, finds no easy road into the Castle of Vayenne."
"Still, without love, you would marry him?" said the Countess.
"For the good of the country, perhaps; but if I do, he will probably live to wish that he had found another wife, even if she cost him a crown."
"Surely, Christine, if you have not learnt to love, you have learnt how to hate."