"Again?" said the king, completely amazed at the hardy obstinacy of the young girl. "You use the same language--you will not change your tone--ah! this does not result from courage but from hatred."
"If it were so, would your majesty care at all about it?"
"For heaven's sake, what do you say, my poor child?" said the king, with a naïve accent. "You do not know what you say. None but a perverse soul can be insensible to the hatred of its fellows."
"Does Frederick the Great look on Porporina as a fellow being?"
"Virtue and mind alone exalt one being above another. You have genius in your art. Your conscience must tell you if you be sincere. It does not know, for your heart is full of venom and resentment."
"If this is the case, has the heart of Frederick no reproaches to make itself for having enkindled these evil passions in a mind constitutionally calm and generous?"
"Come, you are angry," said the king, attempting to take the young girl's hand. He however, withdrew it, under the influence of that _gaucherie_, which contempt and aversion to women had made him contract. Consuelo, who had exaggerated her ill-temper to repress in the king's mind a return of tenderness, which, in spite of all his ill-humor, seemed ready to break forth, saw how timid he was, and lost all fear when she saw him thus make advances. It was a singular thing that the only woman capable of exerting this kind of influence over Frederick, and it amounted almost to love, was possibly the only one in his kingdom who would on no account have encouraged him. It is true, that Consuelo's pride, and repugnance to him, were, perhaps, her chief attractions in the king's mind. Her rebellious heart tempted the despot as much as the conquest of a province did, and without being proud of such frivolous exploits, he felt a kind of admiration and instinctive sympathy for a character which seemed to bear some resemblance to his own. "Listen," said he, putting in his pocket the hand he had extended towards Consuelo, "tell me no more that I do not care about being hated. You will make me think I am hated, and that thought would be odious."
"Do your corporals win respect by their canes?"
"What do you know about it? What are you talking of? What are you meddling with?"