"Love!" said Lopez, bitterly. "No one ever felt it so painfully as I."
Katie was silent. She turned away, wringing her hands.
"Do you wish his life?"
"His life? Oh heavens! am I not ready to lay down my life for him?"
"Lay down your life?" repeated Lopez. "That is not wanted. No! You have yet a long life to live in love and happiness."
"Never!" said Katie, vehemently. "There is no love or happiness in life now for me. I love him—I love him, and him only! Oh, how I love him!"
Lopez gave a sneering laugh.
"Pardon me, you are too facile in your loves, señorita, to talk in that strain. You love so easily that you will probably have many love-affairs in your happy future. You loved Ashby, and in a day or two you declare yourself ready to die for Rivers!"
This was a bitter taunt, but Katie's distress was so deep that she did not feel it.
"Oh, I never knew love before!" said she. "I thought I loved Mr. Ashby; but I was mistaken—I never loved him. It was nothing; I was inexperienced. I didn't understand—I didn't know. But I know now. Oh, I know all now—all!"