"Yes," she answered, haughtily. "I was a witness of your presentation to him; I saw him motion to you to follow him from the drawing-room, and a moment afterward I followed also. I was behind that portière there when your conversation took place."
"Well, senorita?" he said, coolly.
"I must ask you once more not to call me that."
"I beg your pardon. Custom causes me to use it unaware."
She inclined her head slightly, and continued:
"Senor Meriaz, you are aware, as you informed Mr. Pierrepont in that conversation, that I was the betrothed wife of Mr. Olney Winthrop, five thousand dollars of whose money was paid you today to conceal some secret concerning his death."
She paused, but Meriaz only bowed with profound indifference.
"You must understand," she went on, when she saw that he did not intend to assist her, "how very much interested I am in discovering everything connected with the death of my fiancé, and it was to induce you to tell me this secret that I asked Miss Chalmers to send for you today."
"What inducement do you offer, seno—Miss de Barryos?"
She hesitated a moment, then said, slowly: