it seems to me that I must cry out to them and warn them, as if some terrible calamity were impending! Then, all at once a dark veil of silence descends before my eyes—I am not well; I have consulted physicians.
Leonardo. What do they say?
Rinaldi. They advise me to distract myself, to sleep always with a light, with some one near.
Leonardo. A simple prescription for you to follow.
Prince Michael and the Signore enter.
Signore. Ah, gentlemen! What! The Countess? It is a long time since I have had the pleasure—although I have not forgotten her.
Rinaldi. The Signore Prefect is very kind. Whenever I have had the pleasure before, it has always been because of some experience that was disagreeable. The last time I lost my jewels.
Signore. Well, you had no reason to complain. Do you remember that night you heard rumblings in your villa? And the time that escroc tried to make you dance to the tune of those letters?
Rinaldi. They were forgeries.
Signore. I suppose those anonymous articles were forgeries which revealed such intimate knowledge of the details of your life? But I was on hand to protect you.
Rinaldi. You protected me, Signore. [To Leonardo] I wish I could remember the man's name.
Leonardo. As he never tells the truth, nobody knows his real one. Call him the Signore, and you will make no mistake.
Prince Michael. I had no idea that the Countess was one of your clients.
Signore. One of the best of them. That theft of her jewels—a trick to make people think they were genuine.
