"Why should I not?" she asked; "for, after all, you are right. All human things are much alike when they love—the brown girls in the willows also. They nurse their babies and thank the Virgin they are not childless, as I am."
"And you—?"
"I am thankful to be as I am. When I have children, I want to love the father of them. My people did not ask if I loved my husband. They made the marriage, and God made me a widow. I thank God always that when I marry again I can do my own choosing."
"Oh, when you marry again! Good! When is it to be?"
Ana laughed and then grew grave.
"You may help me to decide," she said, a trifle nervously. "I am going to elope to-night. Will you ride along?"
"It is up there," and Ana waved her hand toward the blue mountains above Trabuco. "It is a long ride, but the moon shines, and—I am trusting you!"
"And the man?"
"Your husband hates him, and will find fault if you go."