I think she must be good and true."

"She's all that," said Derrick, fervently. "If you had seen only just as
much of her as I have, you'd know that you were right. She is not a girl
who would jilt a man who cared for her, to marry another man for his
rank. She's good and true, as you say; as true as steel. Why, think of
it: a slip of a girl, scarcely out of her teens, facing, alone, a
madman, with a revolver! The sight of the thing gave her the horrors, I
could see; but there she stood, firm as a rock, pleading, arguing,
insisting, until she'd saved the silly fool. A girl like that is--oh, I
can't talk about her. And, what's it matter? I shall never see her
again. Besides, it isn't possible that a girl so beautiful, so charming,
should be free for long. I may meet her again; but it's long odds that,
when I do, it will be to find that she's married, got children--I beg
your pardon, your Excellency; you've been very kind to listen to all
this and very patient. You see how hopeless it is. I must try to forget
her. But that's impossible." He laughed ruefully. "I think of her every
day: I fall asleep thinking of her. But that's enough! About the
machinery?"

"We will talk of it some other time," she said, rising. "Good-night."

For several days Derrick saw Donna Elvira at a distance only; but,
somehow, he was conscious that she was watching him; for now and again,
when he was going to or from the shed, he caught sight of the pale face,
with its white hair, at a window, or saw her moving across the court;
but he did not venture to intrude upon her. While he was waiting for her
decision, respecting the new plant, he employed himself in making a kind
of survey of the house and the buildings; and he drew up a schedule of
the repairs that were necessary and made some suggestions for various
alterations. But though her Excellency did not grant him another
interview, it was evident that she had not forgotten him, and he knew
that it was to her he owed several comfortable additions in and about
his rooms, and the increased respect and attention of the servants.

One evening, about a week later, his servant came to him with a message:
he was to attend her Excellency in the salon. With a sense of relief,
and of pleasure, Derrick hastened to obey the summons. The frail, yet
proudly-erect figure was seated in the big chair; she looked thinner and
more haggard; and Derrick, as he stood before her, feared that she was
still suffering