Allegro had never said a word to her about the proposal which had been
made by his family. Up to that moment she had thought he did not himself
know of it.
"Heart?" she said, bewildered. "Did you put any heart into the offer
that was made? None has ever been shown to me."
"Is there a chance of your considering my suit?" He asked it very
seriously.
Nina shook her head, and Allegro sighed as though dejected; then, having
paid her this compliment, he became cheerful again and his candor was as
delicious as it was astonishing.
"Shall I tell you? Yes, I will! If you had said 'yes,' I should have
found it very easy to love you. As you won't accept my name,
however----"
"You don't love me, is that it?" Nina burst out laughing, and Allegro
joined light-heartedly, as he nodded his agreement. Their gayety
attracted the attention of their neighbors, and for a while the
conversation became general. It was suggestive of the Tower of Babel.
Nina had turned to Porter with a remark in English, but Allegro added to
it in Italian. Tornik, whose Italian was only slightly more villainous
than his English, chimed in across the corner of the table in French,
but he soon forgot himself and broke into German. Nina found herself
mixing her sentences like Neapolitan ice cream into four languages,
until finally she put her hands over her ears and exclaimed, "_Attendez,
aspetarre, warten sie nur_, oh, do let us decide on one tongue at a
time!" They all laughed, and then, as is usual among a group of various
nationalities, the conversation went on in French.
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