you are disposed to open your heart to me."

And with this Albert, for a time, professed to be content. So determined
was he, however, to win Consuelo's heart, that he readily obeyed her
advice, and even promised never to return to his hermitage without first
asking her to accompany him.

Gentle old Count Christian himself came later to plead his son's cause
with Consuelo. Amelia and her father had left the Castle of the Giants,
and Christian realised how much Consuelo had already done for the
restoration of his son's health.

"You were afraid of me, dear Consuelo," said the old man. "You thought
that the old Rudolstadt, with his aristocratic prejudices, would be
ashamed to owe his son to you. But you are mistaken, and I go to bring
my son to your feet, that together we may bless you for extending his
happiness."

"Oh, stop, my dear lord!" said Consuelo, amazed. "I am not free. I have
an object, a vocation, a calling. I belong to the art to which I have
devoted myself since my childhood. I could only renounce all this--if--
if I loved Albert. That is what I must find out. Give me at least a few
days, that I may learn whether I have this love for him within my
heart."

The arrival of the worthless Anzoleto at the Castle of the Giants drove
Consuelo once more to flight. Anzoleto had enjoyed some success at
Venice, but having incurred the wrath of Zustiniani, he was escaping to
Prague. Passing through Bohemia, the fame of a beautiful singer at the
castle of the Rudolstadts came to his ears, and Anzoleto resolved to