"Yes. I nearly dropped. At first he did not recognise me—I was very young—when—"
"Did he speak to you?"
"Yes. I managed to answer. John was not looking at me, fortunately…. After that he wrote to me—and I burned the letter…. It was horrible; he said that José Querida was his guest at El Naúar, and he asked me to get you because you knew Querida, and be his guest for a week end…. I cried that night; you heard me."
"Was that it!" asked Valerie, very pale.
"Yes; I was too wretched to tell you,"
Valerie sat silent, her teeth fixed in her lower lip. Then:
"José could not have known what kind of a man the—other—is."
"I hope not."
"Oh, he couldn't have known! Rita, he wouldn't have let him ask us—"
"Men seldom deceive one another."