XXXV
HEARTSICK WITH THOUGHT.
Two Gentlemen of Verona; i.—1.
Fenton's forenoon at his studio was broken by a visit from Ninitta. His mind full of his trip to New York, and of speculations concerning his interview with Mrs. Glendower, he had let the whole question of the Fatima and his entanglement with its model slip from his mind, and when he opened the door to find Mrs. Herman standing there, the shock of his surprise was a most painful one. Ninitta's eyes were swollen with weeping, and the sleepless night had made her plain face haggard and ugly. With a quick, irritated gesture, the artist put his hand upon her arm and drew her impatiently into the studio. Closing the door, he stood confronting her a moment, studying her expression, as if to discover the cause of her disturbance.
"Well," at length he said, harshly, "have you betrayed me?"
Ninitta answered his look with one of helpless and confused despair. The anguish of the long hours during which she had been making up her mind what to do in the emergency that had arisen, had stupefied her so that she could not think clearly. She still suffered, and Fenton's brutal manner brought tears to her eyes, but she was benumbed and dazed, and could neither think nor feel clearly.
"Grant found out himself," she said, "that I posed."
"Well?" Fenton demanded, with an intensity that made his smooth voice hoarse.
"That's all," Ninitta responded dully. "I'm going away."
"Going away?" echoed Fenton, the words arousing again his fears that the worst might have been discovered. "Then Herman does know?"
"He only knows that I posed," repeated Ninitta; "but he says Nino would be ashamed, and I am going away."