"Thanks, Carmela—you are kind! You alone love me, when all else hates me."
"Have I not reason to do so?"
The Jaguar smiled mournfully, but answered this question by asking another, the usual tactics of persons who do not wish to let their thoughts be read.
"Now, tell me frankly what happened between you and those scoundrels."
The maiden seemed to hesitate for a moment, but made up her mind and confessed the warning she gave the Captain of Dragoons.
"You were wrong," the Jaguar said sternly to her; "your imprudence may produce serious complications. Yet I dare not blame you; you are a woman, and consequently ignorant of many things. Are you alone here?"
"Quite alone."
"What imprudence! How can Tranquil leave you thus?"
"His duties keep him at present at the Larch-tree hacienda, where there is going to be a grand hunt in a few days."
"Hum! At any rate, Quoniam ought to have remained with you."