“The major, ‘Grande Mosca,’ ” continued Raphael, “said to her, with his usual awkwardness, that of all the singers he had ever heard, one only, Grisi, sang better than she.
“ ‘Since Grisi sings better than I,’ coldly replied the artiste, ‘you were wrong to listen to me in lieu of going to hear her.’
“Then came Sir John, shaking hands with and treading on everybody’s feet.
“ ‘Señora Maria,’ he said to the Gaviota, ‘your voice is wonderful: if you wish to sell it, I will pay you fifty thousand pounds for it.’
“ ‘I do not sell my voice,’ said Maria, disdainfully.”
“All this is beautiful and good, dear cousin; but what think you of the mystery which surrounds this affair?”
“Of what mystery do you speak?” demanded the baron, who just appeared.
“Of this brilliant début,” replied Arias; “of this début, bursting among us like a bombshell, at a moment when no one thought of it. I understand certain things now: the interviews of the duke with the impressario; the assiduity of this Norma at the theatre.”
“Ah, here comes Señorita Rita,” exclaimed the baron. “Señorita, I believe that I had the honor to see you this morning, in the street Catalans.”
“I did not see you,” replied Rita.