"
"Yes, but, Leo," said Nina, who was still busy with her flowers, "when
we go back with them to Naples, you really must speak properly. It is
too bad--the dialect--it is not necessary; you can speak well if you
wish. It was only to make fun of Sabetta that you began, now it is
always."
He only laughed at her grave remonstrance.
"Oh, don't you preach at me, Ntoniella!" he said, in the very language
she was deprecating. "There are lots of things I can say to you that
sound nicer that way."
He turned from the piano at last and took up an English newspaper that
he had previously opened.
"Ntonie, tell me, did you read all the news this morning?"
"No--a little," Nina answered, snipping off the redundant stalks of the
grapes.
"You did not see the announcement about--about Miss Cunyngham?"
At the mention of this name, Nina looked up quickly, and there was some
color in the pale, clear complexion.
"No. What is it, Leo?"
"I thought you might have seen that, at all events," he said, lightly.
"Well, I will read it to you. 'A marriage has been arranged and will
shortly take place between Lord Rockminster, eldest son of the Earl of
Fareborough, and Miss Honnor Cunyngham, daughter of the late Sir George
Cunyngham, and sister of Sir Hugh Cunyngham, of the Braes, Perthshire,
and Aivron Lodge, Campden Hill.
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