It only needed that!

"I was not aware that he was able to collect together another troupe."

"Oh dear, yes! Why, he's got a prima donna now. She is his wife also. Such a bonny little bride! She'll turn the heads of all the young fellows, I know. But you're in hiding here, are you not?"

"In hiding?"

"Yes, and I tell you what—entre nous, of course—Bálványossi also has reason to make himself scarce."

"Why?"

"Why, because he played such a great part in the Revolution."

"I never heard anything about it."

"Ah! but he might have been a famous man without your hearing anything about it. You also were a comedian during the Revolution, weren't you?"

I allowed him to suppose so.