ve been taking all your
walks in this neighborhood? _Dios mio_! What a monster of falsehood have
we here? And how brazenly he lies."

And Rafael, vanquished by her frank merriment, had finally to smile,
confessing his crime with a loud laugh.

"You're probably surprised at what I do and say," continued Leonora
drawing closer to him, leaning a shoulder against his with unaffected
carelessness, as if she were with a girl friend. "I'm not like most
women. A fine thing it would be for me, with the life I lead, to play
the hypocrite!... My poor aunt thinks I'm crazy because I say just what
I feel; in my time I've been much liked and much disliked on account of
the mania I have for not concealing anything.... Do you want me to tell
you the real truth?... Very well; you've come here because you love me,
or, at least, because you think you love me: a failing all boys of your
age have, as soon as they find a woman different from the others they
know."

Rafael bowed his head and said nothing; he did not dare look up. He felt
the gaze of those green eyes upon the back of his head and they seemed
to reach right into his soul.

"Let's see your face. Raise that head of yours a little. Why don't you
say it isn't so, as you did before? Am I right or not?"

"And supposing you were right?..." Rafael ventured to murmur, finding
himself thus suddenly discovered.

"Since I know I am, I thought it best to provoke this explanation, so as
to avoid any misunderstandings. After what has happened to-night, I want
to have you for a friend; friend you understand, and nothing more; a
comradeship based on gratitude. We ought to know in advance exactly
where we stand. We'll be friends, won't we?... You must feel quite at
home here; and I'm sure I shall find you a very agreeable chum. What
you've done to-night has given you a greater hold on my affection than
you could ever have gained in any ordinary social way; but you're going
to promise me that you won't drift into any of that silly love-making
that has always been the bane of my existence."

"And if I can't help myself?" murmured Rafael.

"'And if I can't help myself'," said Leonora, laughing and mimicking
the voice of the young man and the expression on his face. "'And if I
can't help myself'! That's what they all say! And why can't you help
yourself? How can one take seriously a love for a woman you are now
seeing for the second time? These sudden passions are all inventions of
you men