u'll see how quickly I'll be good-natured, again."

She got up with a swift, supple movement that made her petticoats rustle
and that infused a perfume of violets through the room. She pressed an
electric button. A maid appeared.

"Tell Leonor," she ordered, "that I have a guest. Senor Enrique is going
to have supper with me."

She approached a mirror, to arrange her hair. She seemed happy,
transfigured with joy.

"Have you seen the play they're giving at the Princess Theater
to-night?" asked she.

"No, I haven't."

"They say it's awfully good. Shall we take it in? There's time enough,
yet. We'll have supper right away."

Darles felt a bit disconcerted, and secretly investigated his pockets,
estimating the money he had. Mentally he counted:

"Five pesetas, ten, fifteen."

Yes, there was enough for two seats and a carriage to come back in.

"All right, just as you like," he answered, more reassured.

"Then I'll go change my dress. I'll be back in a minute."

She vanished behind the crimson curtain that draped the door of her
bedroom. The student heard a little rustling of lingerie that slid to
the floor. He heard corset-steels being tightened over a soft breast;
heard mysterious, silken sounds of undressing and of dressing; heard
closet-doors vivaciously opened and shut.

Enrique felt upset and very happy. He had known Alicia more than a
month. During that time, using his visits to Don Manuel as a pretext, he
had seen the young woman several times. In spite of the intimacy of
these calls he had never dared let the girl see his love. His innocence
had been too great to let him approach any such difficult avowal. When
Alicia had tried to help him out of the embarrassment she had seen in
him, and had tried to turn the conversation into confidential channels,
he had evaded declaring himself. For he had been afraid of making some
stupid blunder and of appearing absurd.

But now he felt calmer, more self-confident. Without quite understanding
why, he suspected that Alicia's ill-humor was working to his benefit.
She was keeping him with her because she was bored, because she was
afraid to pass the night alone with that gnawing desire for the jewels
that in all probability could never be hers. And Enrique reflected that
the necklace, made to encircle some wonderful throat, might become the
symbol of a bond of love now growing up between them.

Then he realized there was something sweet and intimate in the
conf