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"You, then, very heartily hate this poor little princess?" asked Alexis,

laughing

"Yes," said she, after a short reflection, "I hate her And would you

knohy, signor? Not for her beauty, not for her youth, but for her

talents! And she has great talents! Ah, there was a tih I knew her not But no it is different I now not

only hate, but fear her! For she can rival me, not only in love, but in

fa! She was like a swan

to look at, and her song was like the dying strains of the swan And

all shouted applause, and all the women wept; indeed, I e, with bitterness, for they had

forgotten otten, for this new poetess; they overwhel me alone and unnoticed! And yet you ask me if I hate

her!"

Quite involuntarily had she suffered herself to be carried away by

her own vehee With secret pleasure Count

Orloff read in her features that this was no comedy which she thus

improvised, but was truth and reality

"If you so think and feel," said he, "then we nora A real hatred is of as reater One canI will therefore confide in you, signora, if you

will swear to me to betray no word of what I shall tell you"