s, if you so desire," responded Don Carlos calmly.
"Conventionalities--English or otherwise--do not concern me. I follow
the dictates of my heart in all things, and I am master of my own
destiny. Shall I tell your Mr. Standish that I fell in love with you
the first moment I saw you, and that I mean to take you from him by
hook or by crook?"

"I think you must be crazy!" exclaimed Myra, at heart just a little
scared, but more than a little fascinated. "Surely even in the wilds
of Spain it is considered dishonourable to attempt to make love to a
girl who is betrothed to another man?

"Not if one is prepared to fight the other man," Don Carlos replied,
with a sudden smile. "I am quite prepared to fight for you, believe
me. As for making love, dear lady, I have not even yet begun to make
love to you in earnest. My love is a raging torrent which will
overwhelm you and sweep you off your feet, a raging fire which will set
your heart aflame in sympathy."

"I'm thinking, Don Carlos, that you must be a bit Irish yourself to mix
up torrents and flames, and the sooner you let the torrent put your
fires out the better I'll be pleased," said Myra, with forced
lightness, after a pause, during which she decided it would be best to
treat the whole matter as a joke. "Incidentally, you are carrying your
jest too far, and I shall be seriously annoyed if you persist in this
nonsense."

"Even if I have mixed my metaphors, senorita, I assure you I have never
been more serious in my life," Don Carlos retorted. "May I call on you
to-morrow to convince you of that fact?"

"No, thank you, senor," answered Myra. "And if you are really in
earnest, I shall instruct the servants that I am never at home to Don
Carlos de Ruiz."

"You are cruel, dear lady, but I warn you I am not to be rebuffed,"
said Don Carlos. "Love will surely find a way."

The music ceased as he spoke, and Myra disengaged herself from his
encircling arm and darted away from him, glad to escape. She could not
have analysed her own feelings, and found herself at a loss to know how
to deal with the situation. To complain to Tony Standish seemed
futile. Tony, if she told him what had happened, would, of course, be
indignant and demand an explanation, and Myra felt sure in her own mind
he would come off second best if there was a scene and a personal
encounter.

"Sure, and is it frightened you are of the conceited Spaniard?" she
asked herself. "You've prided yo