Carlo indicated Natalie, and bowed to the ground before her.
"Princess Tartaroff?" asked the cardinal, with astonishment.
"That she is a princess, I know not," said Carlo, "but I am quite
certain she is a poetess!"
What was it that at this moment stirred the soul of the young maiden?
She now felt a pride, a blessed joy, and yet she had previously felt so
sad at Corilla's triumph! It seemed as if enthusiasm raised its wings in
her, as if the word, the right word, pressed to her lips, as if she must
utter in song her rejoicings and lamentings for her simultaneously
felt pleasures and pains! A pure and genuine child of Nature, she felt
herself the natural impulse to pour out in words, tones, and even in
tears, what agitated her soul, and to which she was unable to give a
name.
Cardinal Bernis had first turned imploringly to Count Paulo, praying for
his permission to invite the young princess to surprise and delight
the company with some of her improvisations. Others, overhearing this,
mingled in the conversation, and added their requests to those of
the cardinal; and, the feeling becoming general, the requests for
an improvisation became universal and pressing; people, momentarily
forgetting the great and celebrated improvisatrice Corilla, with a
feverish curiosity turned to the new and unknown star.
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