"A gain for him in the next world?" said Merthyr. "I believe that
Countess Anna of Lenkenstein is also a fervent Catholic; is she not?"
"I trust so."
"On behalf of her peace of mind, I trust so, too. In that case, she also must be a sound sleeper."
"We shall have to awaken her. What excuse—what am I to say to her?"
"I beg you to wait for the occasion, Countess d'Isorella. The words will come."
Violetta bit her lip. She had consented to this extraordinary step in an amazement. As she contemplated it now, it seemed worse than a partial confession and an appeal to his generosity. She broke out in pity for her horses, in dread of her coachman, declaring that it was impossible for her to give him the order to drive her anywhere but home.
"With your permission, countess, I will undertake to give him the order," said Merthyr.
"But have you no compassion, signor Powys? and you are an Englishman!
I thought that Englishmen were excessively compassionate with horses."
"They have been known to kill them in the service of their friends, nevertheless."
"Well!"—Violetta had recourse to the expression of her shoulders— "and I am really to see Countess Anna?"