And again silence fell.
I noticed that her eyes were fastened upon me, and, if the truth be told, I could not deceive myself into thinking that they were overflowing with love, but rather that they displayed a mischievous curiosity.
“O Gloria, if you only knew how sadly those days passed for me when I got no word from you! I believed that you had forgotten me.”
“I never forget my good friends. Besides, I had promised you one thing, and I should certainly not wish to fail of fulfilling my promise.”
“What was it?”
“Do you remember?—the scolding....”
“Oh, yes,” I exclaimed, laughing.
And, encouraged by these words, I felt that I ought to have my love affairs put upon a definite basis, and I said—
“Well, then, Gloria, I have come for nothing else than to have you undeceive me if I am under a false impression, or else confirm my hopes of being loved if they have any foundation. Since I have already repeated forty-one times that I adore you, as you say, I need not say it again. Ever since I have seen you and talked with you at Marmolejo, you have kept me a willing prisoner of love and admiration. My fate is in your hands, and I wait with the greatest anxiety to hear my sentence.”
Gloria paused a few moments before she answered; then she coughed a little, and finally said—