n 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."

"And why shouldn't I?" The question came near to summing up the problem
of her own meditations, and his opposition--with its carefully
maintained impersonal quality--piqued her and made the smoldering
consideration of marrying Giovanni suddenly flame into a definite
intention.

"Well?" she repeated.

"Because I think American men make the best husbands."

Nina was brutal. "You say that because you are an American yourself!"

He let the injustice of her remark pass unnoticed. "I merely repeat," he
said calmly, "that, married to the Marchese di Valdo, you would be a
very unhappy woman. That is my straight opinion. If you don't like it,
I can't help it."

"Why should I be unhappy?"

"Don't let's discuss it."

"That is just like an American. Do you wonder women care for Europeans?
A man over here would sit down sensibly and tell you every sort of
reason."

"Yes, and one sort of reason as well as another. For, or against,
whichever way the wind might happen to be blowing!"

In spite of herself, Nina was disagreeably conscious of the truth of his
judgment. But she shut her mind to it, as she exclaimed, "And you say
you don't dislike Italian men!"

"No, I don't! You are altogether wrong. I have been over here often
enough to admire them tremendously, in a great many ways. But I don't
like to see the girl I--the girl I have known all her life, marry a man
that I feel sure will break her heart."

"Aunt Eleanor's heart is not broken!"

Derby walked up and down the floor, then stood still, stuffed his hands
into his pockets, and looked down at his shoes as though their varnish
were the only thin