“Will you explain all to me some day?”
“Yes, everything. At present, if I were to tell you, the result would only be disastrous to myself, and in all probability wreck your happiness. Silence is best now—far the best.”
His face wore a heavy expression of disappointment and dissatisfaction. Truth to tell, the whole matter was so utterly inexplicable that he entertained serious misgivings. She noticed this, and raising her sweet face, now no longer haggard, but pale and sweet-looking, she added—
“Cannot you trust me further, Nino?”
“Trust you, darling!” he cried. “Why, of course I can. Only all this secrecy worries me.”
“Ah no! Don’t think of it any more,” she urged. “To-night I will leave with you for Paris. I have a friend there to whom I can go. Afterwards, in London, we will marry—if you still desire that we should.”
The last words were uttered in a low, tremulous, hesitating tone.
“Still desire!” he echoed. “I still love you as fondly—ah! even more fervently than before. If you would only confide in me, I should be entirely happy.”
“At present that is impossible,” she declared. “Some day, before long, I hope to be in a position to tell you everything.”
“And you are ready to go to London?” he observed. “Half an hour ago you said you did not wish to go to England!”