“Why, these are not conspirators,” replied Raphael.
“What are they then, eternal contradictor?”
“They are— I will tell you, so that you can judge them in all their sublimity.”
“Finish! tiresome fellow.”
“They are,” said Raphael, solemnly, “incomprehensible regenerators.”
Several evenings after what we have just related, the vast galleries of the hotel the countess inhabited were deserted. There was seen only the playing of tresillo.
“How late they are!” said the marchioness. “It is already half-past eleven, and they do not come.”
“Time does not seem long at the theatre,” added her brother; “when they are at the opera, they are amused like so many fools.”
“Who would have believed,” continued the marchioness, “that this woman could have been so studious, and so determined, as to walk the boards so soon?”
“As to the study,” said the general, “when one knows how to sing, it does not require so much study as you think. As to her determination, I would be satisfied with a regiment of grenadiers like her to besiege Numance or Saragossa.”