d abruptly, and before
Derby could protest he hurried on: "Yes, I know what you would say--she
is too rich and she is scheduled to marry a title. But I don't think she
is the sort of girl that really puts as much stock in titles as it would
seem; and as for money, by the time you have two or three mines like the
'Little Devil' going, you will be pretty rich yourself. Even with your
present prospects, no one could accuse you of marrying her for her
fortune."

"Prospects are very different from actual money, and compared to her I'm
a pauper," Derby answered. "I don't care what people accuse me of, but
to marry a girl like Nina Randolph--even assuming the unlikelihood that
she'd have me--would be a fatal mistake, unless I had a fortune to match
her own. Every changing hour of the day would bring fresh doubt; she
would never believe in a poor man's love. How could she!"

Derby stood up straight, thrust his hands into the pockets of his
ulster, and as Porter tried to protest, he withdrew from the discussion
by declaring that there was nothing to discuss. For himself--he was but
a human machine that God had set upon the earth to bore holes in it, and
to set swarms of human ants working.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE SPIDER'S WEB

In Rome, after Easter, society blossomed out afresh. Giovanni Sansevero
had returned, and to Nina the commencement of the spring season promised
a repetition of the winter.

Nina's antipathy to the Duke Scorpa remained unchanged, and to her
annoyance it had happened frequently, when dining out, that he had taken
her in to dinner. Each time his unctuous, "It is my pleasure, Signorina,
to conduct you," gave her so strong a feeling of resentment that she had
to exert a real effort to put her finger tips on his coat sleeve. She
always kept the distance between them as wide as possible by the angle
at which her arm was bent.

On looking back, however, she had to acknowledge that his manner had
undergone a radical change. He no longer alarmed her by aggressive
pursuit, nor sought to lead the conversation to those personal topics
which she had found so repellent. Furthermore, he never alluded to the
threat he had made to her that day at the hunt, nor even mentioned his
rejected suit. And yet she felt apprehensively that he had not given up
his original determination.

In the meantime he was untiring in his efforts to interest her, and
evinced an ability to keep the conversation going with great skil