"And all the brutes swarming in these parts: will you give them the slip too?"
"We're not discussing my affairs, but yours: you have to catch Rolleston. I am hampering your efforts. So let us separate."
"Not at all!" protested Simon. "We have no right to separate; and you may be sure that I shan't leave you."
Dolores' offer aroused Simon's curiosity. What was the girl's motive? Why did she propose to sacrifice herself? In the silence and the darkness, he thought of her for a long while and of their extraordinary adventure. Starting in pursuit of the woman whom he loved, here he was bound by events to another woman, who was herself pursued; and of this other woman, whose safety depended on his and whose fate was closely linked with his own, he knew nothing but the grace of her figure and the beauty of her face. He had saved her life and he scarcely knew her name. He was protecting her and defending her; and her whole soul remained concealed from him.
He felt that she was creeping closer to him. Then he heard these words, which she uttered in a low and hesitating voice:
"It's to save me from Forsetta, isn't it, that you refuse my offer?"
"Of course," he said. "He's terribly dangerous."
She replied, in a still lower voice and in the tone of one making a confession:
"You must not let the threat of a Forsetta influence your conduct. . . . What happens to me is of no great account. . . . Without knowing much about my life, you can imagine the sort of girl I was: a little cigarette-seller hanging about the streets of Mexico; later, a dancer in the saloons at Los Angeles. . . ."
"Hush!" said Simon, placing his hand over her mouth. "There must be no confidences between you and me."