"Miss Ross," said he, "I hope you won't think me impertinent. You must
consider I represent Lionel. I am in his place. Very well; he would
probably ask you, in coming so suddenly to London, whether you were
quite sufficiently provided with funds--you see I am quite blunt about
it--for your lodgings and cabs and so forth. I know he would ask you,
and you wouldn't be angry; well, consider that I ask you in his place."
"I thank you," said Nina, in a low voice. "I understand. It is what Leo
would do--yes--he was always like that. But I have plenty. I have
brought everything with me. I do not go back to Glasgow."
"No?" said he, and then, rather hesitatingly, for it was dangerous
ground, he added, "Wasn't it strange that, with you singing at those
public concerts in Glasgow, Lionel should never have seen your name in
the papers--should never have guessed where you were?"
"I took another name--Signorina Teresa I was," Nina said, simply.
"So you are not going back to Glasgow?" he asked again.
"No. The concert season is about over there. Besides," she added, rather
sadly, "I have been--a little--a little homesick. The people there were
very kind to me, but I was much alone.
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