"Impossible!" moaned Pepita.
"Why?"
"Because I could not do you such injustice. You have your father far away in America. You might offend him."
"Bother my father!" cried Dick.
Pepita looked shocked.
"I mean--he would allow me to do any thing I liked, and glory in it, because I did it. He would chuckle over it for a month."
"Luigi--"
"Pepita, do you love him better than me?"
"No, but if I leave him so it would break his heart. He will think I am ruined. He will declare a vendetta against you, and follow you to the end of the world."
"Is there no hope?"