"And yet you ought to tell me, if you expect that I will forget all this. You cannot? Then be so good as to do the only other sensible thing in your power, and leave me as soon as possible."
"Forgive me, this once!" Orsino entreated in great distress, but not finding any words to express his sense of humiliation.
"You are not eloquent," she said scornfully. "You had better go. Do not come to the dinner this evening, either. I would rather not see you. You can easily make an excuse."
Orsino recovered himself suddenly.
"I will not go away now, and I will not give up the dinner to-night," he said quietly.
"I cannot make you do either—but I can leave you," said Maria Consuelo, with a movement as though she were about to rise from her chair.
"You will not do that," Orsino answered.
She raised her eyebrows in real or affected surprise at his persistence.
"You seem very sure of yourself," she said. "Do not be so sure of me."
"I am sure that I love you. Nothing else matters." He leaned forward and took her hand, so quickly that she had not time to prevent him. She tried to draw it away, but he held it fast.