“Do you really think she would run away with him, if it came to that?” asked the Senora, earnestly. “Run away and marry him, spite of our refusing to consent to the marriage?”
“I do,” said Felipe.
“Then it is your opinion, is it, that the only thing left for us to do, is to wash our hands of it altogether, and leave her free to do what she pleases?”
“That's just what I do think, mother,” replied Felipe, his heart growing lighter at her words. “That's just what I do think. We can't prevent it, and it is of no use to try. Do let us tell them they can do as they like.”
“Of course, Alessandro must leave us, then,” said the Senora. “They could not stay here.”
“I don't see why!” said Felipe, anxiously.
“You will, my son, if you think a moment. Could we possibly give a stronger indorsement to their marriage than by keeping them here? Don't you see that would be so?”
Felipe's eyes fell. “Then I suppose they couldn't be married here, either,” he said.
“What more could we do than that, for a marriage that we heartily approved of, my son?”
“True, mother;” and Felipe clapped his hand to his forehead. “But then we force them to run away!”