"How would it sound if any one should hear me?" said the Donna, casting down her eyes and playing with her watch-chain.
"But when we are alone no one can hear you," replied Mather. "Won't you call me Henry when we have an occasional tête-à-tête?"
"Well, then you must be very discreet, Henry," answered she, looking up, blushing and hesitating as she spoke.
"I will be discretion itself," said the now wholly infatuated Mather, with a look of triumph; and to show that he accepted the conditions of the agreement, he sealed it by raising her hand to his lips.
"Oh! fie! fie!" she exclaimed; "is it thus that you show your discretion? I shall be obliged to retract my promise if you become so rash. Now, sit down beside me, and be more polite in future."
"I will not be so hasty again, my dear Donna; but my pleasure was so great that I was somewhat beside myself. Now tell me what it was that caused your troubles."
"No, no; not 'Mr. Mather;' recollect your promise," interrupted Mather, as he saw she hesitated to call him by his first name.
"Well, then, Henry, I have been very thoughtless and extravagant, and I do not know what to do. You see, I have always spent money for everything I needed without regard to cost; for my own fortune was ample for everything, and Pedro would give me any amount that I might desire. But last month a draft for six thousand pounds, which was sent me by my trustees, was lost on the way, and so I have used up all my own funds. Having run up several large bills in New York, I asked Pedro to pay them, and he did so; but he said that, having ordered his factors to send him no more money until his arrival in Callao, he should be somewhat embarrassed until he heard from them again. His sudden determination to fit up and occupy a residence here has exhausted all his available funds except a few thousand dollars for current expenses, and he requested me not to make any large purchases until one of us should receive a remittance from our estates. Well, you see, I expected surely to have received a large sum before now, and so I made purchases without regard to consequences; the result is, that I am deeply in debt, my money has not arrived, and I am afraid to tell Pedro, because he will not forgive me for running in debt and disobeying him. Unfortunately, I have done both these things, and I am momentarily in fear that some of the bills will be sent to him. Now, my dear Henry, you see that I have good cause to look sad and cry."
As she finished, the Donna began to whimper and put her handkerchief to her eyes in so touching a manner that Mather was quite overpowered. The artistic expression with which she hastily called him her "dear Henry" was the finishing touch to an already powerful attack, and he surrendered completely.