A moment
later she ran a comb through her hair, pinned up one or two tumbled
locks, washed her face, polished her nails, took out a clean
handkerchief; after which, she felt quite made over, and went in search
of her aunt.
If she imagined that the day's emotions were ended, she was destined to
be mistaken, for just as she went into the princess's room, a messenger
came with a note from the prince, saying that he had been arrested. It
was a very cheerful note and sounded rather as though he considered the
whole situation a joke. He begged his wife not to be alarmed. The police
had evidently mistaken him for Giovanni, so he had given no explanation
and refused even to tell his name. When Giovanni should have time to
reach the frontier, he would prove his identity and return home.
The princess's chief anxiety was therefore directed toward Giovanni, and
she dreaded lest Sandro's identity be discovered before his brother
should be safe. As for Nina, she cared no longer what might happen to
Giovanni. She had had too many shocks and too little time for recovery.
All her sympathy was for her poor Uncle Sandro who, in the meantime, was
sitting in jail! Yet the thought of his situation in some way struck her
as ludicrous--almost like comic opera.
But following this there came a second letter, very different from the
first, written by the prince in great agitation, and saying that his
arrest was not for the death of the duke, but for the smuggling of a
Raphael out of the country.
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