I never saw you like this at home.
Has anything happened?"
Nina shook her head.
"Honest and straight?"
She looked at him with a distracted expression that reminded him of a
child afraid of losing its way.
"Jack"--she hesitated; her voice sounded constrained--"please don't look
so--so serious. It is nothing--that I can tell you! Don't notice that I
am any different. Really, I am not. You are my best friend, and the
first I would go to if I needed help."
Yet, as she said the words, she felt with a sudden, poignant pain that
they were no longer true. Her mind was in a turmoil, and at that very
moment, had she followed her inclination, she would have screamed aloud.
She did not understand why she was so wretched; but one thing was
certain--it was Giovanni who filled her thoughts!
Perhaps Derby interpreted the change in her. He put a question suddenly,
"Nina, you couldn't really care for an Italian, could you?"
Nina flushed. "I don't know whether I could or not," she said. "I think
there may be just as wonderful men over here as at home. I know there
are some that are quite as brave."
Derby frowned. "Nina, Nina----"
But Nina did not even hear his interruption. "I wish you knew Don
Giovanni, Jack," she said. "You would like Italians better, I think!"
"It is not that I think ill of Italians--quite the contrary; but--I
should not like to think of your marrying Don Giovanni.
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