and I will throw
over those princes and barons that the colonel has raved about and
devote myself to you while you are here. Does that suit your
Excellency?" She had crossed her knees, and, with her hands clasped
over them, and the toe of her small boot advanced beyond her skirt,
leaned forward in the attitude he remembered to have seen her take in
the summer-house at Rosario.

"Perfectly," he said.

"How long will you be here?"

"About three weeks: that, I believe, is the time allotted for my cure."

"Are you really ill," she said quietly, "or imagine yourself so?"

"It amounts to about the same thing. But my cure may not take so
long," he added, fixing his bright eyes upon her.

She returned his gaze thoughtfully, and they remained looking at each
other silently.

"Then you are stronger than you give yourself credit for. That is very
often the case," she said quietly. "There," she added in another tone,
"it is settled. You will come and go as you like, using this salon as
your own. Stay, we can do something today. What do you say to a ride
in the forest this afternoon? Milly isn't here yet, but it will be
quite proper for you to accompany me on horseback, though, of course,
we couldn't walk a hundred yards down the Allee together unless we were
verlobt."

"But," said Paul, "you are expecting company this afternoon. Don
Caesar--I mean Miss Briones and her brother are coming here to say
good-by."

She regarded him curiously, but without emotion.

"Colonel Pendleton should have added that they were to remain here
overnight as my guests," she said composedly. "And of course we shall
be back in time for dinner. But that is nothing to you. You have only
to be ready at three o'clock. I will see that the horses are ordered.
I often ride here, and the people know my tastes and habits. We will
have a pleasant ride and a good long talk together, and I'll show you a
ruin and a distant view of the villa where I have been staying." She
held out her hand with a frank girlish smile, and even a girlish
anticipation of pleasure in her brown eyes. He bent over her slim
fingers for a moment, and withdrew.

When he was in his own room again, he was conscious only of a strong
desire to avoid the colonel until after his ride with Yerba. He would
keep his word so far as to abstain from allusion to her family or her
past: indeed, he had his own opinion of its futility. But it would be
strange if, with his past e