The princess colored up as the count continued:
"So that I wait solely for your highness' leave for me to order her to come forth, for I cannot doubt that she will immediately obey."
The abbess remembered that Lorenza had locked the door behind her, and consequently that she could not be prevailed upon except by her own will to come out. No longer trying to dissimulate her vexation at having been lying uselessly to this man, from whom nothing could be concealed, she said:
"Were she to enter, what would be done to her?"
"Nothing, your highness; she will merely tell you that she wishes to go with her husband."
This encouraged the princess, recalling the Italian woman's protests.
"It would seem that your highness does not believe me," said the count, in answer to her apparent indignation. "Is there anything incredible in Count Fenix marrying Lorenza Feliciani, and claiming his wife. I can easily lay before your royal highness's eyes the marriage certificate, properly signed by the priest who performed the ceremony."
The princess started, for such calmness shook her conviction. He opened a portfolio and took out a twice-folded paper.
"This is the proof of my claim on my wife," he said; "the signature ought to carry belief. It is that of the curate of St. John's in Strasburg, well-known to Prince Louis of Rohan for one, and were his eminence the cardinal here——"
"He is here at this very time," exclaimed the abbess, fastening fiery looks on the count. "His eminence has not left the abbey, where he is with the cathedral canons; so nothing is more easy than the verification you challenge."