"Why did you shrug your shoulders?" she said, her lips trembling
with anger, and, springing up from the sofa, she approached Pollnitz
with a threatening expression, who, expecting a second explosion,
drew back, "Why did you shrug your shoulders?" repeated Anna.
"I am not aware that I did so, my Anna," stammered Pollnitz.
She stamped impatiently on the floor. "I am not your Anna. You are a
faithless, treacherous man, and I despise you; you are a coward, you
have not the courage to defend the woman you have sworn to love and
protect. When I ceased singing, why did you not applaud?"
"Dearest Anna," said Pollnitz, "you are not acquainted with court
etiquette; you do not know that at court it is only the king who
expresses approval."
"You all broke out into a storm of applause as Farinelli finished
singing."
"Because the king gave the sign."
Anna shrugged her shoulders contemptuously, and paced the floor with
rapid steps. "You think that all my hopes, all my proud dreams for
the future are destroyed," she murmured, with trembling lips, while
the tears rolled slowly down her cheeks. "To think that the king and
the whole court laughed while I sang, and that presumptuous Italian
heard and saw it all--I shall die of this shame and disgrace.
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