"Do you know, Sorella, that the higher you fly, the nearer you are to heaven?"
"I will soar, but think not, that like Icarus I will fasten my wings with wax. No, I am wiser, I will fly with my feet; the sun has no power over them: they are indeed two suns. They warm the coldest heart; they set the icy blood in motion, they almost bring the dead to life. You see, sister, I have adopted the style of speech of my adorers; none of them being present, I will worship and exalt myself."
Barbarina said all this merrily, but Marietta felt this gayety was not natural.
"Do you know what I have determined upon?" said Barbarina, turning away, so that her face might not be seen; "as I cannot dance either to-day or to-morrow, I will find some other mode of employing my time. I will go to Pesne and sit for my portrait."
She had turned away, but Marietta saw that her throat was suffused with a soft flush.
"Will you drive to the palace?" said Marietta.
"Not to the palace, but to Pesne."
"Pesne's studio is now in the palace; the king appointed him rooms there."
"Well, then, I must sit to him in the palace."
"This, however, will be disagreeable to you; you abhor the king, and it will be painful to be under the same roof. You perhaps suppose the king to be in Potsdam: he is now in Berlin." Barbarina turned suddenly, and throwing her arms around Marietta's neck, she pressed a kiss upon her lips, and whispered: "I know it, Marietta, but I must go."