“What do you think of doing?” asked Ibarra, trying to read her eyes.
“The future is obscure and Destiny is hidden in darkness. I do not know what I am to do; but I know that I can love only once, and that without love I never will belong to any one. And you, what is to become of you?”
“I am nothing but a fugitive.... I am fleeing. In a very short time, they will discover my escape, Maria....”
Maria Clara clasped her arms about her lover’s neck, kissed his lips repeatedly, hugged him, and then, abruptly breaking away from him, said:
“Flee! flee! Adios!”
Ibarra looked at her, his eyes sparkling, but she motioned and he went away, staggering like a drunken man. Again he leaped over the wall and entered the banca. Maria Clara, leaning on the door casing, watched him depart.
Elias took off his hat and bowed profoundly.
[1] Both words mean mistress.