"Yes?" said the Catalan a little defiantly, as though he meant to hold his ground.
"Yes," replied Betty, and she held out her hand to him. Espinosa raised it reluctantly to his lips and kissed it.
"I shall see you when you return," said Betty, and she walked to the door.
"If I go away," Espinosa replied stubbornly. "It is not certain, Mademoiselle Betty, that I shall go"; and with a ceremonious bow to Jim he walked out of the room; but not so quickly but that Betty glanced swiftly from one man to the other with keen comparing eyes, and Jim detected the glance. She closed the door and turned back to Jim with a friendly little grimace which somehow put him in a good humour. He was being compared to another man to his advantage, and however modest one may be, such a comparison promotes a pleasant warmth.
"More trouble, Miss Harlowe," he said with a smile, "but this time the sort of trouble which you must expect for a good many years to come."
He moved towards her, and they met at one of the two side windows which looked out upon the courtyard. Betty sat down in the window-seat.
"I really ought to be grateful to him," she said, "for he made me laugh. And it seems to me ages since I laughed"; she looked out of the window and her eyes suddenly filled with tears.
"Oh! don't, please," cried Jim in a voice of trouble.
The smile trembled once more on Betty's lips deliciously.
"I won't," she replied.