Orsino and his mother might have talked longer and perhaps to better purpose, but they were interrupted by the entrance of a servant, bearing a note. Corona instinctively put out her hand to receive it.
"For Don Orsino," said the man, stopping before him.
Orsino took the letter, looked at it and turned it over.
"I think it is from Madame d'Aranjuez," he remarked, without emotion. "May I read it?"
"There is no answer, Eccellenza," said the servant, whose curiosity was satisfied.
"Read it, of course," said Corona, looking at him.
She was surprised that Madame d'Aranjuez should write to him, but she was still more astonished to see the indifference with which he opened the missive. She had imagined that he was more or less in love with Maria Consuelo.
"I fancy it is the other way," she thought. "The woman wants to marry him. I might have suspected it."
Orsino read the note, and tossed it into the fire without volunteering any information.
"I will take your advice, mother," he said, continuing the former conversation, as though nothing had happened.