SCENE I.--ASCANIO, FROSINE.
FROS. Thank Heaven! I am a girl who can keep a secret, Ascanio.
ASC. But is this place private enough for such a conversation? Let us
take care that nobody surprises us, or that we be not overheard from
some corner or other.
FROS. We should be much less safe within the house; here we can easily
see anybody coming, and may speak in perfect safety.
ASC. Alas! how painful it is for me to begin my tale!
FROS. Sure, this must be an important secret then?
ASC. Too much so, since I even entrust it to you with reluctance; even
you should not know it, if I could keep it concealed any longer.
FROS. Fie! you insult me when you hesitate to trust in me, whom you have
ever found so reserved in everything that concerns you--me, who was
brought up with you, and have kept secret things of so great an
importance to you; me, who know...
ASC. Yes, you are already acquainted with the secret reason which
conceals from the eyes of the world my sex and family. You know that I
was brought into this house, where I have passed my infancy, in order to
preserve an inheritance which, on the death of young Ascanio (whom I
personate), should have fallen to others; that is why I dare to unbosom
myself to you with perfect confidence.
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