“I think it must be so; because there was never anything like that first minute when you looked at me.”
[pg 022] “If I could have known, it would have saved me sleepless nights. For now you're mine, my dearest, just as I am yours. Nothing can take you from me now.”
“Ah, I'm afraid! Even if—everything were different in your life, it would be difficult; for—there's someone else in mine already.”
“There can be no one else, since you care for me.”
“Not truly in my life. But there's someone my mother wants me to marry.”
“The Duke of Carmona.”
“You knew?”
“You see, I've thought of nothing but you; and I've learned all I could about what concerns you.”
“I don't like him, not even as a friend. He's handsome enough, but I'm sure he has a most horrible temper. I could be afraid of him. I believe I am afraid. And mother—you don't know her, but—when she makes up her mind that you're to do a certain thing, you find yourself doing it. That's one reason I was so glad when you came to-night, and said, ‘The next is our dance,’ in such a determined way. Not only did you take me away from him, but—I felt you'd try to keep me from him, in the end.”
“Try!” I echoed. “I will keep you. Trust me my darling. I've been foolish to come to Biarritz under another name. This isn't Spain; and even a Casa Triana has a right to be here. But luckily not much harm's done. Through the de la Moles I'll be presented to Lady Vale-Avon; I'll tell her that, though compared to the days when my people counted for something in the history of Spain, I'm penniless, still my father left me enough to live on and keep a wife who loves me better than she loves society. I'll tell Lady Vale-Avon that there are countries in which my name's well thought of, even in these piping times; that there I'll do something worth doing—”