"Will you trust me?"
"Yet, if you be mistaken, on whom will the humiliation fall?"
"On me alone: I authorise you to say everywhere, that I am proud of the princess's friendship, and that she entertains both esteem and deference for me."
"I will go with you, madame," said Consuelo, ringing for her mantle and muff. "My toilette is very simple, but you have entirely surprised me."
"You are perfectly charming, and will find the princess in a yet more simple toilette.—Come."
Porporina put the mysterious roll in her pocket, filled the carriage of the baroness with music, and followed her resolutely.
"For a man who risked his life for me," thought she, "I might run the risk of waiting in vain in the antechamber of a princess."
Having been introduced into a dressing-room she waited for five minutes, during which the abbess and her confidant exchanged these few words in the next room.
"Madame, I have brought her. She is there."
"So soon? You are an admirable ambassadress. How must I receive her? What sort of person is she?"