"Then what did you want from them? I cannot understand your conduct. It is marvellous."
"Confess that it mystifies you, my son."
"It does; but will you explain?"
"That depends upon circumstances. But now promise, in your turn, to answer a single question."
"One? I will answer it. Ask; I am listening."
"What do you think of Doña Hermosa? Has she not beautiful eyes! One would think she had stolen a piece of the sky, they are so blue."
At this home-thrust Stoneheart recoiled; a sudden flush tinted his features.
"Why do you ask me?" said he hesitatingly.
"What does that matter? Answer, as you have promised."
"I have scarcely looked at her," he replied, with increasing embarrassment.