"Is this Silencio more to you than I am, then, Beltran?"
"Good God! No, child, but I shall return before you have had your dip in the river."
"I do not like to be left here alone, cousin. I want you—"
"I must go, and at once, Felisa. Silencio depends upon me. Good by, good by! You will see me at breakfast."
Felisa arose. The time for pleading was past.
"You shall not go," said she, holding his sleeve with her small fingers.
"I must!" He pulled the sleeve gently away. She clasped it again persistently. Then she said, resolutely and with emphasis, "So sure as you do, I take the first steamer for home."
"You would not do that?"
"That is my firm intention."