"Oh yes!"

"Then consult him. I will make him consult me, and it will be the
same--and ten times more conventional and proper."

He smiled.

"Will you promise that?" he asked.

"Yes. I promise. But I wish you would tell me more."

"I wish I could. But I hardly know you!" He smiled again, as he
repeated her own words.

"Never mind that! Tell me!"

"No. I cannot. If there is trouble I will tell you everything--through
Sassi, of course."

Sabina laughed, and all at once she felt as if she had known him for
years.

At that moment the deputy finished his speech, and all who had
anything to say in answer said it at once, in order to lose no time,
while the speaker relighted his villainous black cigar, puffing
tremendously.

The Baroness suddenly remembered Sabina and Malipieri in the corner,
and after screaming out several incoherent phrases, which might have
been taken for applause or dissent and were almost lost in the general