"Ah, baron, you are sublime, and admirable!" and again her laughter became irrepressible.
"When this nervous attack is over," said the chamberlain, "be pleased to tell me what you mean to do. Would you betray the prince? Do you think the princess would have betrayed you to the king? Would you think yourself freed from your oaths? Take care, signora, or you may soon have reason to repent. Silesia ere long will be restored to Maria Theresa, who has not abandoned our plans, and who henceforth will be our best ally. Russia and France will certainly offer Prince Henry their hands. Madame de Pompadour has not forgotten the contempt of Frederick. A powerful coalition this, and a few years of strife may easily hurl from the throne the proud monarch who now maintains it by a thread. With the good will of the new monarch, you may reach a lofty position. The least, then, that can happen from all this is, that the Elector of Saxony may lose the Polish crown, and King Henry reign at Warsaw. Then——"
"Then, baron, there exists, in your opinion, a conspiracy which, to satisfy Prince Henry, is about to enkindle another European war! and that prince, to gratify his ambition, would not shrink from the shame of surrendering his country to a foreign rule! I can scarcely think such things possible. If you unfortunately speak the truth, I am much humiliated at the idea of being considered your accomplice. Let us be done with this comedy, I beg of you. For a quarter of an hour you have manœuvred very shrewdly to make me own crimes of which I am innocent. I have listened to ascertain what was the pretext for my being kept in prison. It remains still for me to find out why I have received the bitter hatred so basely exhibited against me. If you wish, I will try to vindicate myself. Until I do, I have nothing to reply to all you have said, except that you surprise me much, and that I sympathise with none of those schemes."
"Then, signora, if that be all you know, I am amazed at the volatility of the prince, who bade me speak plainly to you, before he was assured of your adhesion to his schemes."
"I repeat, baron, that I am utterly ignorant of the prince's plans; but I am sure that you never had any authority to speak to me one word about them. Excuse me for thus contradicting you. I respect your age, but cannot but contemn the terrible rôle you have undertaken to play with me."
"I am never offended at the absurd suspicions of women," said Von Poelnitz, who could not now avow his falsehoods. "The time will come when you will do me justice. In the trouble of persecution, and with the bitter ideas created by a prison, it is not strange that you should not at once see clearly and distinctly. In conspiracies we must expect such blunders, especially from women. I pity and pardon you. It is possible, too, that in all this you are only the devoted friend of Baron Von Trenck, and a princess's confidant. These secrets are of too delicate a nature for me to be willing to speak of. On them, Prince Henry himself closes his eyes, though he is aware that all that has led his sister to join the conspiracy is the hope of Trenck's restoration."
"I am also ignorant of that, baron, and think, were you sincerely devoted to the august princess, you would not talk so strangely about her."
The noise of the wheels on the pavement terminated this conversation, much to the satisfaction of the baron, who was sadly perplexed for an expedient to extricate himself from the position he had assumed. They were going into the city. The singer was escorted to the stage and to her dressing-room, by two sentinels, who never lost sight of her. Although esteemed by her associates, she was coldly received, as none were bold enough to protest against this external testimonial of disgrace and royal disfavor. They were sad and constrained, acting as if afraid of contagion. Consuelo, attributing this to compassion, thought that in their faces she read the sentence of a long captivity. She sought to show them that she was not afraid, and appeared on the stage with bold confidence.
The arrest of Porporina had been much talked of, and the audience, composed of persons devoted by conviction or position to the royal will, put their hands in their pockets as if to restrain the wish and habit of applauding the singer. Every one looked at the king, who glanced curiously over the crowd, and seemed to command the most absolute silence. Suddenly a crown of flowers, thrown no one knew whence, fell at the feet of Consuelo, and many voices said, simultaneously and loud enough to be heard in every part of the house, "It is the king—the royal pardon!" This assertion passed rapidly as lightning from mouth to mouth, and fancying they paid Frederick a compliment, such a torrent of applause broke forth as Berlin had never before resounded with. For some minutes Porporina, amazed and confounded, would not commence her part. The king, amazed, looked at the spectators with a terrible expression, which was taken as a signal of consent and approbation. Buddenbrock, himself, who was not far off, asking young Benda what it all meant, was told the crown came from the king, and at once began to applaud with the most comical bad grace. Porporina thought she was dreaming, and the king scratched his head to know if he was awake.
Whatever might have been the cause and result of this triumph, Consuelo felt its salutary effect. She surpassed herself, and was applauded with the same transport, through all the first act. During the interval, however, the mistake became gradually corrected, and there was but one part of the audience, the most obscure and least likely to be influenced by courtiers, which refrained from giving tokens of approbation. Finally, between the second and third acts, the corridor-orators informed every one, that the king was very much dissatisfied with the stupid applause of the public, that a cabal had been created by Porporina's unheard-of audacity, and that any one who was observed to participate in it, would certainly regret it. During the third act, in spite of the wonders performed by the prima donna, the silence was so great that a fly's wings might have been heard to move at the conclusion of every song, while the other actors received all the benefit of the reaction.