"Ah, but it is; and see, I have brought you this, and this too." He took the bags from the holster and held them to her. Yet she made no motion to take them. She stepped back a little, and to the midnight of her eyes came a sudden flash. "How much is in them," he continued, "I do not know, but it must be like St. Peter's pence; you can see"—and he affected a little laugh—"they are not light to hold. Truly they must represent a pretty dower, for Don Jayme said—for pleasantry, no doubt—'Ruis, you will do well to get an acknowledgment.'"
"Ruis! He called you Ruis! Your name is Judas." The girl's face was always white, but now it was whiter than the moon. The red had left her lips, and her voice, which had been melodious as the consonance of citherns and guitars, grew abruptly harsh and strident. She was trembling from head to foot.
"But will you not take them?" he asked, referring to the bags of money which, awkwardly enough, he still held out to her.
"Get back, Spaniard, into the night from which you came. I gave you love, you bring me gold. I gave my trust, you ask a receipt. You shall have it." She had moved forward near to him again, and glared in his face.
"But if you refuse the gold, what," he asked, almost piteously, "what can I give?"
"Nothing save this dirk."
And before the intention could have been divined, she tore the dagger from his belt and sheathed it in his heart.
"There is my receipt," she cried.
The bags fell heavily to the ground, and of one of them the canvas burst open and scattered the contents on the ground. Ruis would have fallen too, but with one steadying hand she held him on the saddle, and with the other unwound her scarlet sash. In a moment's time she had tied him fast; then she gave the affrighted horse a blow and stepped aside. And as she did so the horse veered and rushed up the road, bearing the lifeless Ruis, bound as Mazeppa was, with the dagger still in his heart, to the father who waited his return.
For a little space she listened to the sound of retreating hoofs. She was trembling still.