"I think distress preferable to ennui and anxiety. What was it, Matteus?"
"I saw this morning the youngest and most amiable, handsome and intelligent of all my masters taken to prison—I mean the Chevalier Leverani."
"Leverani? His name is Leverani?" said Consuelo, with emotion. "Taken to prison? The Chevalier? Tell me, for God's sake, who is this Leverani?"
"I have described him distinctly enough to madame. I know not whether she knows more or less than I do. One thing is certain—he has been taken to the great tower for having written to madame, and having refused to communicate her reply to his highness."
"The great tower!—his highness! What you tell me, Matteus, is serious. Am I in the power of a sovereign prince, who treats me as a state prisoner, and who punishes any of his subjects who exhibit sympathy towards me? Am I mystified by some noble with strange ideas, who seeks to terrify me into a recognition of gratitude for services rendered?"
"It is not forbidden me to tell madame that she is in the house of a rich prince, who is a man of mind and a philosopher."
"And chief of the Council of the Invisibles?"
"I do not know what madame means by that," said Matteus, with indifference. "In the list of his highness's titles and dignities, there is nothing of the kind recorded."
"Will I not be permitted to see the prince, to cast myself at his feet and ask the pardon of this Chevalier Leverani, who I am willing to swear is innocent of all indiscretion?"
"I think your wishes will be difficult of attainment. Yet I have access to his highness every evening, for a short time, to give an account of madame's occupations and health. If madame will write, perhaps I can induce him to read the letter, without its passing through the hands of the secretaries."