"I have told you already that it was not from Herr Schmidt that I learnt that Herr von Werben is visiting you again."
"Then you heard it from Count Golm, and I cannot abide him; he will have to wait a long time before I give him a good word, and now----"
"My dear child, permit me to observe that you are not very judicious," said Giraldi, smiling. "You have half a dozen personal reasons for doing what you are doing; I pay you besides, and beg you moreover to consider me at your disposal in that matter, and you want to give the whole affair up because----"
"It bores me! I can bear anything except being bored."
"What is it that bores you? Explain that to me."
"What is there to explain?" cried Bertalda; "it is just tiresome. If one is foolishly in love with a man, and he comes and weeps in one's arms, and one hears from others why he weeps, why should one not do him a kindness and help him to gain the woman he loves? Why, goodness me, there is nothing very hard in that; I am a good-natured creature, and if there is a little acting to be done--why one learns to cut a few capers in the ballet, and it is all the more amusing. And the acting you suggested was very pretty so far, and there is no great harm in standing as a model for a couple of days, when there is nothing to be done but to hold up your bare arms, and half the time is spent in talking too; but on the third day one ought to be able to say, So-and-so is waiting for you at such a place, and make an end of it!"
"I gave you permission yesterday to hint at the real state of affairs."
"Oh yes, hint!" cried Bertalda. "I told her the whole story to-day. There!" Giraldi half started from his chair, but immediately recovered himself, and asked in his quiet way:
"What do you mean by the whole story, my dear child?"
"Why, that I am not a model, and that I have come on Herr von Werben's account--"