ake it?" I
replied by describing my own bitter annoyance at figuring as the
libeller and satirist of private persons. I painted the distress of
Gratarol, and the sympathy which I felt for him. "The kindness of your
heart is worthy of all honour," she answered; "but if you knew the whole
facts, you would not take compassion on that man. He has not merely let
himself be bamboozled by an actress, fomented the scandal from which he
is now suffering, set himself up against the decrees of the tribunals,
calumniated people who deserve respect, pretended that the prima donna's
leg was broken, and floundered from stupidity to stupidity until the
Government itself is enraged against him. He has not merely committed
all these follies. He has done more, of which you are not yet aware."

"I am quite prepared to believe you," I replied; "but in a case like
his, any honest man might be excused for losing his head and acting with
imprudence. Do not let us think of him. I come to beg you to save me
from what I regard as an odious source of humiliation to myself. Signor
Gratarol persists in saying that I can and ought to stop the performance
of my play." The noble lady looked laughing in my face and said: "Any
blind man can see that you have no power over your comedy. You made a
gift of it to certain actors. It has been twice revised and licensed by
the censors of the State. It belongs to the public, and the public have
the right to profit by it. You will only get yourself into a scrape if
you insist on championing the cause of that presumptuous, conceited, and
unruly man. If I cannot persuade you, there are senators in that room"
(pointing to her drawing-room) "who will tell you plainly that you are
impotent--your comedy no longer yours, but the property of the public
and the magistrates of State." "All this I know quite well," I answered;
"and I have repeated it a hundred times. I cannot stir a finger. This is
the very reason why I come to you. I know that you can settle matters if
you like. Intelligent people will perhaps understand how helpless I am
in the whole matter. But the vulgar and the populace are sure to think
otherwise, and I shall be prejudiced in the opinion of my countrymen. It
is to your feeling heart that I make this last appeal, beseeching you to
liberate me from the purgatory I am in of hearing all these scandals
daily, and seeing the unfortunate Gratarol exposed to scorn in a base
and cruel pillory." At the end of th