"I must be gone," he said.
She gave him a scrutinizing glance.
"Ah," she said.
"Yes; then be kind enough to order Lanzi to prepare Santiago. Perhaps if I told him so myself he would feel disinclined to do it. I fancy I can see I am no longer in his good graces."
"I will go," she answered him with a smile.
The young man watched her depart with a stifled sigh.
"What is this I feel?" he muttered, as he pressed his hand powerfully against his heart, as if he suddenly felt a sudden pain: "Can it be what people call love? I am mad!" he went on, directly after; "How can I, the Jaguar, love? Can a reprobate be beloved?"
A bitter smile contracted his lips; he frowned and muttered, in a hollow voice—
"Every man has his task in this world, and I shall know how to accomplish mine."
Carmela came in again.