Corona made an almost imperceptible inclination of her head, but did not speak.
"Do you understand my position ?" he asked again.

He could not see her face, and for some seconds she made no sign; at last she moved her head again, but this time to express a negative.
"It is simple enough, it seems to me," said Giovanni, bending his brows.
Corona found that by turning a little she could still look at the stage, and at the same time speak to the man behind her.
"How can I judge ?" she said.

"You have not told me all.

Why do you ask me to judge whether you are right ?" "I could not do it if you thought me wrong," he answered shortly.
The Duchessa suddenly thought of that other woman for whom the man who asked her advice was willing to sacrifice his life.
"You attach an astonishing degree of importance to my opinion," she said very coldly, and turned her head from him.
"There is no one so well able to give an opinion," said Giovanni, insisting.
Corona was offended.

She interpreted the speech to mean that since she had sacrificed her life to the old man on the opposite side of the box, she was able to judge whether Giovanni would do wisely in making a marriage of convenience, for the sake of an end which even to her mind seemed visionary.