"Well done!" she whispered. "That was indeed noble and heroic!"
Apafi saw through the magnanimous fraud; but he was determined that Banfi should not escape him that way, so, turning wrathfully upon him, he exclaimed—
"And you permit your wife to commit such indiscretions, which might so easily ruin your family, nay, the realm itself? She must be punished for it, and I therefore request you to reprimand her on the spot!"
Lady Banfi, full of resignation, sank down upon her knees before her guests, and bowed her head like a criminal awaiting punishment.
"It is not my practice to correct my wife in public," murmured Banfi, with an unsteady voice.
"Then I'll do so myself," cried Apafi; and approaching the lady he said—"You deserve, madame, to be sent to jail!"
"That I would not allow, sir!" muttered Banfi between his teeth.
He was now as pale as a corpse. All his blood, all his fire, seemed concentrated in his eyes. All his muscles quivered with shame and rage.
"Gentlemen!" interrupted a sweet, sonorous voice. How soothingly it sounded amidst the rough contention of angry men. It was the voice of the Princess, who stepped between the lady and her accuser. "In former times," she cried reproachfully, "noblemen were ever wont to respect noble ladies."
"So you are again at hand to defend those whom I attack?" cried the Prince petulantly.