She glanced at him.
“It doesn’t matter,” she replied.
“I am certain I have offended you,” he insisted, still troubled.
“Yes, a little, but it doesn’t matter,” she added, with some pride.
“I must have seemed a little bit brutal to you, Maria,” he exclaimed remorsefully.
“A little,” she replied less proudly; “but it doesn’t matter.”
“Does nothing matter to you, then?” he asked, exasperated and sad.
She was silent and lowered her eyes, playing with her rings in a way that Emilio remembered.
“Will you give me your hand in token of peace?” he asked, with a false accent of easiness and frivolity.
“Yes,” she replied, giving him her hand.