"That to me, Signora! But beware, my bees may swarm!" "I shall know how to protect myself against their sting." "I doubt it; but I thank you--you accord me full liberty once more. I have longed for it, I showed consideration for your beauty, did any favour befall me in consequence? I showed consideration for your worldly fame, it dazzled me as it did the public. Worldly fame, like a soap-bubble it shall collapse. A circus in Barcelona, a Crystal Palace in England, to these may be added a _café chantant_ in Moscow, and the magic is dissolved. Talent! What is talent? People possess it so long as it is believed in. Talent is a bill at sight, it must be redeemed. It is little enough to possess talent alone; a singer must cease to begin when her voice begins to cease. There you have a few specimens; how do you like the colour? It is of a brilliant lustre, brilliant! That will create a sensation!" Giulia stood as if bewildered beneath the drizzling rain of these aphorisms. She kept her hands pressed convulsively upon the table. "I can discover new stars," cried Spiegeler, "and transform them into falling ones. I have given the German stage two _prime donne_. I can create queens of the opera, but also hurl them to destruction. _Nous verrons_, Signora!" Beate rusted in from the adjoining room. Stamping with his crutches, the lame reporter left the boudoir. "What have you done? _Corpo di bacco!_" "I feel myself free and great as Italy's most promising actress, young Adelaide Ristori, when, as Mary Stuart, she plunged the knife into her enemy's bosom." "Unbounded recklessness! What possessed you? We shall be obliged to bear the consequences." The bell was rung outside. "I fear nothing more! He comes--it is he!" With downcast mien Beate announced Lieutenant Buschmann and Herr Böller. Giulia received her adorers with cold reserve. Böller, who was as tall as Buschmann, but who, behind the corpulent officer, looked like the latter's shadow, was now one of the Signora's friends most capable of sacrificing himself. After she had rejected his attentions, he had relinquished all hopes of winning her; however, he had vowed to himself to protect and watch over her as much as he possibly could. He was a young man of principle, noble-hearted and faithful to his duty; but his exterior was not very prepossessing. A figure thin as a lamp-post, grey eyes, a haggard face and a sharply prominent nose; he seemed to be the embodiment of Immanuel Kant's conception of duty. Lieutenant Buschmann's principles were less firmly planted, but his outward appearance was superior. It was imposing, of great physical size; his features expressed perfect self-complacency, a healthy colour lay upon his cheeks, and confidence of success flashed from his eyes. He was little adapted to stand in the ranks, therefore he was generally ordered upon duties which had nothing in common with the march past on parade.