"Certainly, I'm in earnest."
Edith turned away abruptly.
"I hope you're not joking," said Kirk. "Jove! I—I'm knocked clear off my pins." A tremendous wave of excitement surged over him. "So, that's what Alfarez meant. That's what SHE meant last night when she told me to look up—" He broke off suddenly, for Edith's face had gone chalk-white.
"But, Kirk, what about me?" she asked, in a strained voice.
There was deathlike silence in the room.
"You can't LOVE her," said the woman. "Why, she's only a child, and she's—Spanish."
They stood motionless, facing each other. At last Kirk said, gravely and deliberately,
"Yes, I love her better than anything in the world and I want to marry her. I could give up my country, my dad—anything for her."
Pressing her gloved fingers to her temples she turned her head blindly from side to side, whispering as if to herself:
"What will become of me?"