or, what
I tell you: I fought Scorpa this morning and have
sustained a bullet wound in the arm. Unfortunately,
it was impossible to hide, as the bone is broken
and it had to be put in plaster. Scorpa's condition
is, I am told, serious. If it goes badly, I shall
have to leave the country, though I doubt if he
allows the real cause to be known. I rely upon your
discretion as completely as you may rely upon my
having avenged an insult offered to the purest and
noblest of women.

"I beg you to believe, Mademoiselle, in the
respectful devotion of the humblest of your
servants.

"DI VALDO."

Nina folded the letter and locked it away in her jewel case, moving as
if in a daze. She felt faint and suffocated. Giovanni had risked his
life--for her sake! He was hurt--what if the wound should prove serious,
what if he should lose his arm! Oh, if only she might go to her aunt and
pour out the whole story! But she was in honor bound to say nothing
without Giovanni's permission, and she must master herself at once in
order to appear as usual at luncheon.

A little later, as she entered the dining-room, she heard the prince
saying--"Pretty serious accident." He turned at once to her:

"You have heard?" he said, and as she merely inclined her head, he
hastened to explain: "Giovanni, it seems, slipped this morning and broke
his arm. But, though the fracture is a very serious one, he is in no
danger."

Nina tried to speak, but her tongue seemed glued to the roof of her
mouth. Naturally enough, both Eleanor and Sansevero interpreted her
pallor and agitation as a sign of interest in Giovanni. "He broke the
elbow," the prince continued; "a 'T' break, it is called, which may
leave the joint stiff. There was a piece of bone splintered." Nina
gripped the under edge of the table--she knew what had splintered the
bone! She almost screamed aloud, but she set her lips, held tight to the
table, and tried to appear calm; while Sansevero, in spite of his
anxiety for his brother's condition, could not help feeling great
satisfaction in what looked so encouraging to Giovanni's suit.

"Giovanni went to the surgeon's," he continued. "Imagine--he walked
there! He should never have attempted such a thing. He had quite an
operation, for the splintered portions of the bone had to be cut