ily, watching him narrowly the while. Her words
acted like fire to tinder.

"Interested in him?" he cried, starting violently and letting his
cigarette fall to the ground. His face grew ashen pale and his right
hand involuntarily went to the knife in his sash. "No, no, it cannot
be!" he muttered excitedly. "Are you sure of what you say, Dona
Fernandez? Tell me that it is not true--that it is a lie!" he almost
hissed, his eyes glowing with the fires of passion and jealousy.

"Why, what has come over you, Don Felipe Ramirez?" cried Senora in
alarm. "Surely you cannot--she can be nothing to you any more?"

"Nothing to me? Why do you suppose I am here?" he answered.

"_Madre de Dios!_" muttered Senora.

"Dona Fernandez," he began after a pause, his voice trembling in spite
of himself, "God knows I have tried to forget her, but I--I cannot!" and
his voice broke.

"What?" cried Senora excitedly. "You don't really mean to say that you
still--love her?"

"I do," answered Felipe fiercely, driving his heel furiously into the
ground. For some moments neither spoke. Then a flush of anger mounted to
Senora's brow and she cried:

"Fie! Don Felipe! Have you forgotten your self-respect? The handsomest,
richest man in all Chihuahua running after an Indian--the woman who
treated you so shamefully--an ingrate who is unworthy of a love like
yours? If I could have had my way, she would have been whipped
publicly! What would Don Juan, your father, peace be to his soul, say if
he were alive? Love her!" she cried in a frenzy of hatred and jealousy.
"How can you possibly love her, Don Felipe Ramirez?"

"How can I love her?" retorted Felipe fiercely. "Why does the grass
grow? Why do the birds sing? Why do the streams run to the ocean? Why do
the flowers turn to the sun? Tell me that, Dona Fernandez," he cried in
agony and bitterness, "and I will tell you why I love her in spite of
myself, in spite of what she did, in spite of every effort I have made
to resist her fascination! God!" and he struck his breast with his
clenched hand, "I wonder I did not kill her then and there, but I could
not, I could not; I loved her so!"

"_Dios_, but this is strange!" gasped Senora, raising both hands for an
instant and then crossing herself devoutly as if to avert the power of
some evil--the spell which seemed to cling to Don Felipe and bind him as
with hoops of steel. She did not realize that Chiquita belonged to that
rare type of beings who seem