dashed the tears from her eyes and looked up at him
pathetically, smiling with lips that still quivered. "It is over," she
said, "I am--I have--you know; but it is over! I will forget it.
Sometimes I can forget it if I try; then I shut my eyes at night and I
see him before me, on his face with his arms outstretched--still and
strange. The blood is trickling a stream on the floor! I hear the
shot--I--"

"Be still, Kaya, hush! Don't speak of it; forget it! Hush!"

She began to laugh again: "See, I am your comrade, light-hearted and
gay as a gypsey should be. Already--I have forgotten! What a couple
of tramps we are, you and I! Just look at your boots!"

"And your faded old jacket!"

"And your scarf, Velasco!"

"And your velveteen cap!"

They laughed out together, and then they stopped suddenly and listened.
"Was it anything?"

"No, I think not."

"Are you sure?"

Velasco leaned towards her and their fingers touched for a moment. She
drew them away.

"Shall we go; is it time?"

"Not yet," said Velasco, "not yet! Your lips are so sweet, they are
arched like a bow; they quiver like a string when one plays on it.
Kiss me, Kaya."

She pressed him back with her hands outstretched, her palms against his
coat. "We must go," she whispered, "They will track us, Monsieur. I
am frightened."

"Kaya, kiss me."

Their eyes met and drew closer, gazing intently, the dark and the blue.

"Don't touch me," she said faintly. "We are two boys together. You
must forget that I am a girl. Can you forget?"

"No," said Velasco. "You were charming before, but you are
irresistible now, in that velveteen jacket and scarf, with the curls on
your brow. When you look at me so, with your head on one side, and
your eyes half veiled, and the flush on your cheeks, you are sweet--I
love you! Kiss me."

He pressed forward closely, his eyes still on hers; but she held him
back with her hands, trembling a little.

"Velasco," she whispered, "Listen! I trust you. You are stronger than
I; your wrists are like steel, but--I trust you. See--I trust you."

She took down her hands from his shoulders and folded them proudly over
her breast, gazing up at him.

"How strange your eyes are," said Velasco, "like two pools in the
twilight; one could drown in their depths. You are there behind the
blue, Kaya. Your spirit looks out at me, brave and dauntless. When
you sob, you are like a child; when you look at me under the v