Oh that he were still alive! I would give all that I possess--(_with bitterness_)--even the favour of my Prince--even that treasure, invaluable and never to be trifled with, would I give. PRINCE. Well, well! I understand you. His death was accidental, merely accidental--you assure me that it was so, and I believe it. But will any one else believe it? Will Emilia--her mother--the world? MARINELLI (_coldly_). Scarcely. PRINCE. What, then, will they believe? You shrug your shoulders. They will suppose Angelo the tool and me the prime mover. MARINELLI (_still more coldly_). Probable enough! PRINCE. Me! me, myself!--or from this hour I must resign all hopes of Emilia. MARINELLI (_in a tone of perfect indifference_). Which you must also have done, had the Count lived. PRINCE (_violently_). Marinelli!--(_checking his warmth_)--But you shall not rouse my anger. Be it so. It is so. You mean to imply that the Count's death is fortunate for me;--the best thing which could have happened--the only circumstance which could bring my passion to a happy issue--and, therefore, no matter how it happened. A Count more or less in the world is of little consequence. Am I right?--I am not alarmed at a little crime; but it must be a secret little crime, a serviceable little crime. But ours has not been either secret or serviceable. It has opened a passage only to close it again. Every one will lay it to our door. And, after all, we have not perpetrated it at all. This can only be the result of your wise and wonderful management. MARINELLI. If your Highness have it so---- PRINCE. Why not?--I want an explanation---- MARINELLI. I am accused of more than I deserve. PRINCE. I want an explanation. MARINELLI. Well then, what error in my plans has attached such obvious suspicion to the Prince? The fault lies in the master-stroke which your Highness so graciously put to my plans---- PRINCE. I? MARINELLI. Allow me to say that the step which you took at church this morning--with whatever circumspection it was done, or however inevitable it might be--was not part of my programme. PRINCE. How did that injure it? MARINELLI. Not indeed the whole plan, but its opportuneness. PRINCE. Do I understand you? MARINELLI.