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He followed you out of the room and has not been seen since. Giovanni is said to have spoken of seeing him at the club and that is known to be untrue. Carlo was at the Circolo d'Acacia all the afternoon; so was that Ugo Potensi, as well as a dozen others and neither Scorpa nor Giovanni was there! So where is the duke? Come, tell me!"
He might even be devoted, from force of habit." Nina, furious, told herself that she did not believe one word that this spiteful woman was saying, but it made an impression all the same, which was, of course, exactly what the contessa wanted. "Tornik, too, needs a fortune badly," Maria Potensi went on piercing neatly. "It is hard, over here with us, that men acquire fortunes only by marriage.
But she came back to the former topic. "Does she ride very well, the Contessa Potensi?" "Wonderfully." This time he answered her easily. "But I am sure you ride well, too. Any one who dances as you do, must also be a horsewoman." There was something in Giovanni's manner that excited suspicion, but she did not know of what.
He talked to her companion, the Princess Malio, who bobbed her head and prattled at a great rate; but as he left the box Nina saw him lean toward the Contessa Potensi as though saying something in an undertone. She answered rapidly, behind her fan. Giovanni inclined his head and left. This small incident made a greater impression on Nina than its importance warranted.
But though there was a vague appreciation of something beneath the surface in this American girl's sudden departure, there was nothing to which any one could take exception. The Contessa Potensi, however, had long waited for just such an opportunity, and seized it. "I felt sorry for Eleanor Sansevero," she said sweetly. "It puts her in an unendurable position to have to defend such a person.
"The Contessa Potensi inherited some very good jewels from her mother's family, I am told." "Her mother was an Austrian, a cousin of mine," Tornik drawled. "I never heard of that branch of the family's having anything but stubble lands and debts. However, it is evident she has got the jewels! I felicitate her on her valuable possessions. Elle a de la chance!" He shrugged his shoulders.
As they were falling and about to be dashed on the rocks at the bottom of the ravine, she heard a woman's laugh, and recognized it as that of the Contessa Maria Potensi. She awoke, trembling, and lit her lamp. It was nearly four o'clock, and she had slept but half an hour.
The Contessa Potensi, walking for once with her husband, passed through the adjoining room just as Nina had finally succeeded in focusing her attention upon Allegro's sprightly chatter. As they passed, the contessa stopped a moment to say to Nina, "I am so glad to see that you have recovered from your sudden indisposition of this afternoon."
Don Cesare's expression was for the moment transfigured; instead of arrogance, it suggested rather humility; both he and the young girl seemed deeply engrossed. Tornik told Nina that she was Donna Cecilia Potensi, the little sister-in-law of the contessa in the box opposite. He also added that Carpazzi was supposed to be in love with her, and she with him, but they had not a lira to marry on.
The Contessa Olisco, who for the time being was forced to do without her cigarette, said to Nina: "Look at her, there she is! She is 'going off, so that she has to wrap tulle about her old neck to hide the wrinkles." She moved the column of her young throat with conscious triumph as she spoke. A moment later, as though Nina would understand, she whispered: "There is the Potensi! No!
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