"You have heard from Signor Giraldi," said Carla, as the Count paused, embarrassed. "You may say it out, I do not mind. He is the cleverest of men, and one can keep nothing secret from him, even if one wished to do so, and--I do not so wish; you also--need not wish it. He is very fond of you. He wishes you well; believe me and trust in him." "I believe it," said the Count, "and I should trust him implicitly, if the engagement which is in question did not also include just a little touch of business. You are aware that I have to-day bought the Warnow estates, I should hardly have taken such a tremendous risk upon myself, indeed could not have done so, if it had not appeared that at least half the money in the form of dowry----" "_Fi donc!_" said Carla. "For heaven's sake, do not misunderstand me!" cried the Count. "It is evident that this suggestion could only come from Signor Giraldi, and from no one else. The thing is simply that Signor Giraldi, as the Baroness's agent----" "Spare me anything of that sort, my dear Count," cried Carla. "Once for all, I understand nothing about it. I only know that my sister-in-law is a delightful creature, and that you are a terribly _blasé_ man, whom every well-behaved girl must really be afraid of. And now go into the drawing-room, I hear Baroness Kniebreche, and she would never forgive you if you have not kissed her hand within the first five minutes." "Give me courage to go to execution," whispered the Count. "How?" The Count did not answer, but took her hand off the keys, covered it with passionate kisses, and hurried in a state of emotion which was half affected and half real, into the drawing-room. "He is a good creature after all," murmured Carla, turning, and looking after him with her glass in her eye. "That he is," said a voice close to her. "Mon Dieu! Signor Giraldi!" "Always at your service." "Always at an opportune moment. You have not yet been into the drawing-room? Of course not. Come! let us have a few minutes' chat. A _tête-à-tête_ with you is a much envied privilege, which even Baroness Kniebreche herself would respect." "And then this respectable _tête-à-tête_ is not quite so dangerous as the preceding one," said Giraldi, sitting down by Carla on a little sofa, which stood at the end of the room beneath a candelabra on the wall. "Did you speak to him?" "Just now!" "And what did he answer?" "He understands everything--except----" "Not everything then?" "Do not smile ironically; he is not quite a nonentity. He is clever enough, for example, to ask what the special interest is which you can have in his engagement with Elsa."