"I have no cause for distrust," I said. "Nina is as innocent as the little child of whom she is to-day the mother."
"True!" exclaimed Ferrari. "Perfectly true!" and he looked me full in the eyes, with a smile. "White as the virgin snow on the summit of Mont Blanc--purer than the flawless diamond--and unapproachable as the furthest star! Is it not so?"
I assented with a certain gravity; something in his manner puzzled me. Our conversation soon turned on different topics, and I thought no more of the matter. But a time came--and that speedily--when I had stern reason to remember every word he had uttered.