"But she is betrothed to the count, my friend."
The adventurer made no answer to this exclamation. "And does she love you in return?" he asked.
"How can I tell?" he exclaimed, "I have hardly dared to confess it to myself."
There was a lengthened silence. While putting on his monastic garb, the adventurer examined the young man aside. "The count does not love doña Dolores?" he at length said.
"What! Can it be possible?" he exclaimed, hotly. Don Jaime burst into a laugh.
"That is the way with lovers," he remarked, "they do not understand that others have not the same eyes as themselves."
"But he is going to marry her?"
"He ought," he said, laying a marked stress on the word.
"Did he not come to Mexico expressly for the purpose?"
"It is true."