"Quickly, poltroon! Tell the señorita that you humbly beg her pardon—which she will not grant, of course, since you are beneath speaking to—and that you will not annoy her again! Say it, or, by the saints, you have made your last speech!"
Captain Ramón said it. And then Señor Zorro grasped him by the neck and lifted him, and propelled him to the door, and hurled him into the darkness. And had his boots not been soft, Captain Ramón would have been injured more deeply, both in feelings and anatomy.
Señor Zorro closed the door as the despensero came running into the room, to stare in fright at the masked man.
"Señorita, I trust that I have been of service," the highwayman said. "That scoundrel will not bother you further, else he feels the sting of my blade again."
"Oh, thank you, señor—thank you!" she cried. "I shall tell my father this good deed you have done. Despensero, get him wine!"
There was naught for the butler to do except obey, since she had voiced the order, and he hurried from the room, pondering on the times and the manners.
Señorita Lolita stepped to the man's side.
"Señor," she breathed, "you saved me from insult. You saved me from the pollution of that man's lips. Señor, though you deem me unmaidenly, I offer you freely the kiss he would have taken!"
She put up her face, and closed her eyes.