"Then, Doña Silvia, I erred, that is all. My intentions were worthy. You never intimated to me anything of this—this affection. I step out of the way of this other whom you so fully love. May you be happy, and may he endow your life with all joy. I leave you now."
"No, Alfredo, not yet," her voice shaking a little. "Do you not know who it is that has impersonated my ideal?"
"No, I do not know."
"And can you not even conjecture?" a little wistfully.
"How could I?"
"You are right. How could you?" with an enigmatic smile.
She looked at him with a penetratingly appraising gaze.
"I will enlighten you. It is you—you—Señor Captain Morando—you!"
"I?"
"Yes. I tried to cheat myself. I lied to myself about you. I kept you on a pedestal for my worshiping. You, Captain Morando, are nothing to me, but the man, the ideal man, whom I hoped was inclosed in that goodly form of yours, he it is whom I love." Her tones were low and even.