“I love you,” she said simply.
“You gave me word of your love while in deadly peril, señorita, at a time when no other man could offer you protection, perhaps through momentary gratitude at what I had done. Now it is not necessary, señorita, for you to stand by that word. You have but to go through that door to be with your friends again—you need not lower yourself longer by companionship with Captain Fly-by-Night.”
“There is no one else,” she answered. “All are gone. And were there a million, did to stand by you mean to be ostracized by all the world, yet by your side I’d stand. Anita Fernandez does not give love for gratitude, señor. And she gives it but once!”
“My beloved!” he cried, holding her close.
Now the battering at the door would be denied no longer, and the Governor’s voice came to them.
“Inside, there! Open, Fly-by-Night, for there is no escape. If you have harmed the señorita——”
“I am here and safe,” the girl called.
“Thank Heaven!” they heard the Governor exclaim. “Open and surrender, Fly-by-Night! Surrender and take the consequences of your act!”
The caballero looked down at the girl again.
“There is no other way,” he said. “There is no escape——”