"Where is your silk mantle?" she asked suddenly, as she missed the
garment from its accustomed place.
"I do not know," answered Marietta quite naturally, for she had expected
the question.
Her reply was literally true, since she had every reason for believing
that Giovanni had brought it back with him in the night, but could have
no idea as to where he had put it. Nella began to search anxiously,
turning over everything in the wardrobe and the few things that hung
over the chairs.
"You could not have put it into the chest, could you?" she asked,
pausing at the foot of the bed and looking at Marietta.
"No. I am sure I did not," answered the girl. "I never do."
"Then it has been stolen," said Nella, and her face darkened wrathfully.
"How is such a thing possible?" asked Marietta carelessly. "It must be
somewhere."
This appeared to be certain, but Nella denied it with energy, her eyes
fixed on Marietta almost as angrily as if she suspected her of having
stolen her own mantle from herself.
"I tell you it is not," she replied. "I have looked everywhere. It has
been stolen."
"Have you looked in your own room?" inquired Marietta indifferently, and
turning her head on her pillow, as if she were tired of meeting Nella's
eyes, as indeed she was.
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