The question is on en as highlighted in this passage from the 'Alissa's Journal' section of La porte étroite by André Gide.
« Tout ce que vous demanderez à mon père en mon nom… »
Seigneur ! en votre nom je n’ose…
Mais si je ne formule plus ma prière, en connaîtrez-vous moins pour cela le délirant souhait de mon cœur ?
QUESTION
What is the contribution of en to the meaning of the sentence?
BACKGROUND
If en were not there, I might have tried to understand the sentence to mean:
But if I no longer formulate my prayer, will you know (any the) less for that the delirious hope of my heart
where pour cela (for that) refers to the foregoing si-clause.
Alternatively, if en were there, but pour cela were gone this time, I might try to see in en a reference to the si-clause.
But with both en and pour cela there, I cannot be sure of the reference of either expression.
In Dorothy Bussy's translation, there is no express reference in the main clause to the si-clause.
But though I no longer formulate my prayer, wilt Thou be the less aware of the delirious longing of my heart?