ovanni was looking at
her intensely, pleadingly, his finger on his lips--"but I--never felt
like that before. I got terribly--nervous, and I felt that if I did not
get away from that house I should go mad." Even the recollection made
Nina look so distraught that her aunt's indignation turned to anxiety,
and she put her arm around the girl and led her into the drawing-room.

"It is not like you, dear, to lose control of yourself," she said
tenderly, and then, as she scrutinized Nina's face in the better light,
she added: "You do look white, darling. You had better lie down here on
the sofa. I think I will prepare you some tea of camomile," and then,
with a final touch of gentle admonition, she added, "We must not have
any more such scenes!" Nina hoped for a chance to ask Giovanni why she
might not tell the princess what had happened, but the latter did not
leave the room. Having sent for the camomile flowers, she made Nina a
cup of tea, and the subject of the afternoon's occurrence was dropped.

CHAPTER XXIV

WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE

All that evening Nina was tense and nervous, not only because of her
experience at the Palazzo Scorpa, but because of something portentous in
Giovanni's unexplained demand for silence. He was not at the same dinner
party with her, but she went on to a dance at the Marchese Valdeste's,
feeling sure that she would have a chance to speak with him there. He
always danced with her several times during a ball, and, as he was not
very much taller than she, she could easily talk to him without danger
of any one's overhearing.

Her partners undoubtedly found her _distraite_; her attention vacillated
from one side of the ballroom to the other, as she searched for a
well-known, graceful figure and a small, sleek black head. All the time,
too, she was fearful of seeing a square-jawed face that kept recurring
to her memory as she had last seen it that afternoon--distorted, with
mouth open, and eyes protruding from their sockets. Vivid pictures of
the terrible incident flashed before her as she tried to listen to her
partners; now she was swept with horror and revulsion, and again she
felt a strange thrill at thought of the steely strength of Giovanni's
arms, as he had half carried her down the stairway. But she looked in
vain for her protector--neither he nor the duke appeared.

"What is it, Signorina?" Prince Allegro's voice broke jarringly upon her
recollections. "I am afraid I dance too f