. They're not genuine. You get them out of the novels you read,
or out of the operas we sing. Nonsense that poets write and callow boys
swallow like so many boobies and try to transplant into real life! The
trouble is we singers are in the secret, and laugh at such bosh. Well,
now you know--good friends, and the soft pedal on sentiment and drama,
eh? In that way we'll get along very well and the house will be yours."

Leonora paused and, threatening him playfully with her forefinger,
added:

"Otherwise, you may consider me just as ungrateful and cruel as you
please, but your gallant conduct of to-night won't count. You'll not be
permitted to enter this place again. I want no adorers; I have come here
looking for rest, friendship, peace ... Love! A beautiful, cruel
hoax!..."

She was speaking very earnestly, without moving, her gaze lost on that
immense sheet of water.

Rafael dared to look at her squarely now. He had raised his head and was
studying her as she stood there thinking. Her beautiful face was tinted
with a bluish light, that seemed to surround her with a halo of romance.
Morning was coming on, and the leaden curtains of the sky were rent in
the direction of the sea, allowing a livid light to filter through.

Leonora shivered as if from cold, and snuggled instinctively against
Rafael. With a shake of her head she seemed to rout a troop of painful
thoughts, and stretching out a hand to him she said:

"Which shall it be? Friends, or distant acquaintances? Do you promise to
be good, be a real comrade?"

Rafael eagerly clasped that soft, muscular hand, and felt her rings cut
deliciously into his fingers.

"Very well--friends then!... I'll resign myself, since there's no help
for it."

"In that case you will find what you now believe a sacrifice something
quite tolerable and quite consoling; you don't know me, but I know
myself. Believe me, even should I come to love you--as I never
shall--you would be the loser by it. I am worth much more as a friend
than as a lover. And more than one man in the world has found that out."

"I will be a friend, ready to do much more for you than I've done
to-night. I hope you will come to know me too."

"No promises now! What more can you do for me? The river doesn't flood
every day. You can't expect to be a hero every other moment. No, I'm
satisfied with to-night's exploit. You can't imagine how grateful I am.
It has made a very deep impression on my--friendly--heart