FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75  
76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   >>   >|  
ing in general, not at the man who at that moment was trying to please her. She could not bear the duke's sharp little black eyes, his brutal square jaw, his unctuous manners; and as he took her hand to lead her down a figure of the quadrille, its thickness felt to her imagination like a paw. Dancing vis-a-vis were Giovanni and the Contessa Potensi. Nina did not know her name or anything about her, but she felt at first sight a subtle antagonism, and, following an instinct that she would have found difficult to account for, she turned her attention away toward a second personality, which fascinated her in as great a degree as that of the Potensi had repelled. "Who is that over there?" she asked of the duke. "I mean the slender girl in black." "The Contessa Olisco. She was a Russian princess. Her name was Zoya Kromitskoff. I thought the name of Zoya pretty once--that is, until I heard the name of N-i-n-a!" As he said her name they were just turning around the last figure, and she might not, without attracting attention, snatch her hand from his; but his familiarity in using her Christian name made her cheeks burn. In the final courtesy she barely inclined her head, and at the close of the dance went in quest of her aunt without noticing his proffered arm. At this unheard-of behavior, the duke hurried after her, biting his mustache. "Ah, ha!" ejaculated the old princess in the ear of the Marchesa Valdeste, "that cuttlefish of a Scorpa has thrown his tentacles out too far, and the goldfish is scurrying away in alarm." She fanned herself in agitated satisfaction at her triumph over the duchess--who was pretending that she had noticed no coolness in the American's treatment of her son. The next moment the Princess Sansevero brought Nina to present her to the marchesa. Nina had been dancing at the time of the arrival of the "collaress" and must therefore be presented at the first opportunity. The marchesa, with a few kindly remarks about her dancing, would have let her return to her partners, but the duchess moved ponderously aside on the sofa, making a place for Nina. Without prelude she began, "Is it true that you have five hundred thousand dollars a year? Or is rumor mistaken--is it only five hundred thousand _lire_?" The baldness of the question left Nina for the moment speechless; then presently, "I have what father gives me," she answered evasively. "But you are the only child of the American multimill
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75  
76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
moment
 

hundred

 
Contessa
 

Potensi

 
attention
 
marchesa
 
princess
 

dancing

 

American

 

duchess


thousand

 

figure

 

Princess

 

treatment

 

coolness

 

ejaculated

 

Sansevero

 

behavior

 

hurried

 

biting


mustache

 

present

 

brought

 

pretending

 
tentacles
 
fanned
 

thrown

 

goldfish

 

Scorpa

 

Marchesa


scurrying

 
noticed
 
Valdeste
 

triumph

 

cuttlefish

 

agitated

 

satisfaction

 

baldness

 

question

 
speechless

mistaken
 
dollars
 

presently

 

multimill

 
evasively
 

answered

 

father

 

kindly

 

remarks

 
opportunity