I intended to flirt with Don Carlos and make
him fall in love with me, but he would not take me seriously. I told
him I meant it and was in earnest, but he only laughed. It is really
all his fault. And he was so obtuse this afternoon. Surely he might
have guessed what had happened."

Lady Fermanagh sat silent for a full minute, then suddenly she rose and
laid her hands on Myra's shoulders.

"Myra Rostrevor, answer me truthfully," she commanded, with a searching
glance. "Are you, or are you not, in love with Don Carlos?"

"I--I don't know," Myra answered, shaking her head distractedly. "I
think I hate him, but if I could believe he was really sincere and in
earnest I think I should love him. If I had been tempting, teasing,
and tantalising him to-day, as I did when we were at Auchinleven, I
could excuse him for losing his head and kissing me. To-day I didn't
give him the slightest encouragement. He had shown his indifference by
going away without even a word of farewell, and I suppose he kissed me
in cold blood merely to fulfil his threat and his boast that he always
keeps a promise."

"Cold-blooded kisses can hardly be very shocking, I should imagine,"
remarked Lady Fermanagh drily.

"They were not cold-blooded. He kissed me ravenously, passionately,
and almost stifled me. I felt as if he were drinking the heart out of
me," said Myra. "If I was sure he is as frantically in love with me as
he professes to be, I could excuse him, and I might find myself falling
in love with him. It is the thought that he may still only be amusing
himself, gratifying his vanity and trying to make good his boast that
no woman can resist him, that galls me. If I confessed myself in love
with him, and he then told me he had merely been amusing himself and
proving his power, I should die of shame."

"Why take the risk, Myra? You have been playing with fire, and the
dice are loaded against you. That is an Irishism and a mixed metaphor,
I suppose, but you know what I mean. If you lose your heart to Don
Carlos de Ruiz, you lose Antony Standish, and if you subsequently
discover Don Carlos is not in earnest you will be left broken-hearted,
humiliated, and with your matrimonial prospects ruined."

"I have no intention of breaking my heart about Don Carlos, and don't
intend to make a fool of myself, if that is what you mean," said Myra,
with a sudden change of manner. "I said I'd fool Don Carlos to pay him
out for asserting