SCENE V.--ASCANIO, FROSINE.
ASC. Is it really true, Frosine, do I not dream? Pray tell me all that
has happened, from first to last.
FROS. You shall know all the particulars in good time; be patient; such
adventures are generally told over and over again, and that every
moment. You must know then that after this will, which was on condition
of a male heir being born, Albert's wife who was _enceinte_, gave
birth to you. Albert, who had stealthily and long beforehand laid his
plan, changed you for the son of Inez, the flower-woman, and gave you to
my mother to nurse, saying it was her own child. Some ten months after,
death took away this little innocent, whilst Albert was absent; his wife
being afraid of her husband, and inspired by maternal love, invented a
new stratagem. She secretly took her own daughter back; you received the
name of the boy, who had taken your place, whilst the death of that
pretended son was kept a secret from Albert, who was told that his
daughter had died. Now the mystery of your birth is cleared up, which
your supposed mother had hitherto concealed. She gives certain reasons
for acting in this manner, and may have others to give, for her
interests were not the same as yours. In short, this visit,
[Footnote: That is the visit of which Frosine speaks, Act iv.
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