"Adam!" she laughed. "Of course it is to be the woman's fault,—'She tempted me!'"
She sprang to her feet and ran to her horse as the carriage came in sight over the mesa. He was by her side in an instant.
"And that, madama, is every time I hear your voice, or look in your eyes, or feel the touch of your hand! Ah, beloved!"
"If you kiss me, Don Rafael, remember I cannot go to the house of your wife!"
He released her with a groan, and stared at her as she leaned panting against her horse.
"You put a man in purgatory, madama," he said, between shut teeth. "But it must end—only Christ knows how! It must end one of these days."
He lifted her to the saddle and kept his arms about her, looking up into her face.
"Was that about the boat all a jest? Once before you spoke of a boat—and us two. Perhaps it was only your woman's way to torture a man by helping him to think of that sort of heaven! But, after all, what is all this life here to you? You care nothing for the people; you will go away somewhere, some day, and no one will ever hear of you again. What better way, after all, than the boat? It leaves no tracks; there would be all the world before us."
"Hush!" she said, with a little smile. "Who is now the tempter? You are quite mad, Don Rafael."
"God!" he muttered. "If I could only have the happiness of knowing it was a temptation to you!"