"I must then beg your majesty to admit a person, who, foreseeing to what the present conversation would lead, I took the liberty of bringing with me, and who waits below."
The emperor looked amazed.
"Who is this person?" he asked.
"The Count di Rivero, your majesty."
The emperor seemed to search through his memory for the name.
"Who is he?" said he, after a pause; "ah! I remember: was not a Roman Count Rivero introduced at court, some years ago, by the Nuncio?"
"You are right, your majesty," said Klindworth, "he is a Roman, and the Nuncio was his sponsor. But with the Count Rivero, known in the brilliant salons of the court, I have nothing to do. My Count Rivero is an unwearied champion of Right and of the Church, preparing in quiet obscurity the great insurrection which will destroy the work of Wrong--a mighty leader of all those elements, which, bound together by unseen threads, are preparing for the common struggle."
"How does he prove his identity?" asked the emperor, in a voice in which curiosity struggled with distrust. Klindworth drew from his pocket a sealed letter, and handed it to the emperor:
"In case your majesty should incline to see him, he has entrusted me with this."
The emperor seized the letter.