“Yes, for me, too,” answered Merle, turning round and frankly meeting his gaze. “I should never have been happy again had any harm come to you there—that night—in my very home—without a proper effort to get you away to a place of safety.”
“God bless you, Merle, dear,” exclaimed Dick, as again he pressed her hands. He had been carried away by his fervent emotions, but she did not resent the familiar and endearing manner of his address.
He would have taken her in his arms there and then, but Merle drew back and gave a little glance aside. Then Dick remembered Tia Teresa. To his astonishment he found her chatting with Pierre Luzon as if they were old friends.
Dick left Merle for the moment to greet the duenna.
“And I have to thank you, too, for helping me,” he said. Then he added with a laugh: “When am I to be privileged to wear that mantilla again?”
“You are not to be allowed to endanger yourself again,” replied Tia Teresa. “And I warn you now. We remain here only half an hour—these are our orders.”
“Whose orders?”
“Never mind. Just one half hour, that is all.”
“Then I’ll make the best of my time,” exclaimed Dick, turning toward Merle. “I see you won’t be lonely with my gallant friend, Pierre Luzon,” he added with a smile.
“Oh, I knew Pierre when he was just as handsome a young fellow as yourself,” retorted Tia Teresa. “But we’ll excuse you, and Pierre will keep the time.”