Take care,
cardinal, that it does not prove with you and me as with the shepherd in
your charming poem!"
She said that with such childish ingenuousness, and in so cheerful and
jesting a tone, that the cardinal listened to her as if intoxicated,
and with unconcealed admiration he looked into that delicate, childishly
pure face, over which no trace of sorrow nor any sign of care had ever
yet passed.
Without answering, he took her arm, and, beckoning Count Paulo to his
side, led the princess to the circle of ladies.
Behind those closed curtains that still concealed the mysterious niche
it had meanwhile become stirring. Busy servants hastened hither and
thither, lighting the lamps and arranging the festoons and draperies. It
seems they had here erected a little stage, and the large wall-picture
that formed the background of this stage bore the appearance of a
decoration. A side curtain, serving as a partition, formed a second
room, which seemed destined for a sort of greenroom, in the centre of
which was a large and well-lighted mirror, and before it stood a young
woman regarding herself with the greatest attention, here plucking
at her dress and there arranging her train or an ornament.
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