She thought how, while she had been merely tossing in
her bed, unable to sleep, intent on herself, dwelling on her injured
dignity and the horror of that brute's touch, Giovanni had been sitting
up through the same long night, putting his affairs in order, and
looking death in the face! And she found herself forced to realize that
Giovanni--whose instability had been the strongest argument against
allowing herself to love him--had paid a price so high that his right to
her faith must henceforward be unquestioned.
She had only a vague idea when luncheon ended, or what visits she and
her uncle and aunt paid that afternoon. She went through the rest of the
day as though dazed. Fortunately, her agitation seemed natural to the
prince and princess, and her apparent interest in Giovanni was so near
to the truth that she did not mind. Late that afternoon she and Zoya
Olisco sat together behind the tea table, for most of the time alone.
Zoya had the story pretty straight, but Nina simply looked at her
dumbly--answering nothing. She was relieved, however, to hear that, so
far, people had evidently not ferreted out the facts.
They were not to find out through the papers. On the morning after the
duel, the _Tribunale_ had this paragraph:
"Society of Rome will be sorry to learn that the
Duke Scorpa is seriously ill at his Palazzo.
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