"Oh! you need not counterfeit your voice, sister. I do not know whether you wear the costume of your order or not, but you are Abbess of Quedlimburgh, and may as well own it to your brother Henry."
Consuelo recognized, indeed, the voice of the prince, who had often spoken to her, and who had a kind of lisp which was peculiar. To be satisfied that her sosia was the princess, she continued to refuse to acknowledge that she was what Prince Henry fancied her. The prince added, "I saw your costume in the hands of the person who made it, and as princes can have no secrets, found out for whom it was intended. Come, let us waste no time in gossiping. You cannot deceive me, my dear sister, for I do not attach myself to your side for the purpose of deceiving you. I have something serious to say to you. Come a little aside with me."
Consuelo suffered the prince to take her aside, having resolved to show her face rather than thus acquire a knowledge of any family secret. The first word he spoke to her, when they had gained the box, however, was of such a character as to fix her attention, and give her a right to hear what he said.
"Beware how you confide too readily to Poporina," said the prince to his pretended sister. "I tell you this, not because I doubt either her discretion or nobleness of heart. The most important persons of the order pledge themselves for her, and even if you continue to jeer me about the nature of my sentiments towards her, I will own that I sympathise with you in relation to her. Both those persons and myself, however, are of opinion, that you should not compromise yourself with her, until you are sure of her good disposition. An enterprise which would take possession in advance of so ardent a disposition as yours, and a mind justly irritated, as my own, might at first terrify a timid girl, a stranger beyond doubt to all philosophy and all politics. The reasons which have influenced you are not of that character which would produce an impression on a girl in such a different sphere. Confide her initiation, then, to Trismegistus or to Saint Germain."
"But has not Trismegistus gone?" said Consuelo, who was too complete an actress not to be able to counterfeit the hoarse and changeable voice of the Princess Amelia.
"If he has gone, you must be more aware of the fact than I am, for he has relations with no one but yourself. I do not know him. The Count Saint Germain appears the most skillful operator, and the person most familiar with the science which occupies us. He has done his best to attach this singer to us, and to rescue her from the dangers which menace her."
"Is she really in danger?" asked Consuelo.
"She will be, if she persists in rejecting the suit of the marquis."
"What marquis?" asked Consuelo with astonishment.
"You are out of your wits, sister; I speak of the Grand Lama, FRITZ."