If only she were all American, or even all
Spanish, perhaps he would know better how to act. But,
unfortunately, she was both-just enough of both to be perplexing
and wholly unreliable. And then, too, there was Alfarez!
XX
AN AWAKENING
He was in no more satisfactory frame of mind when, on the next
afternoon, he shouldered his gun and set out for the country. He
went directly to the fairy pool, and waited there in a very fever
of anxiety. Despite the coolness and peace of the place, he felt
his pulses throb and his face burn. If she came, it would mean
everything to him. If she stayed away-why, then he would have to
believe that, after all, the real Gertrudis Garavel had spoken
last night at the opera, and that the sprightly, mirthful little
maid who had bewitched him on their first meeting no longer
existed. An odd bashfulness overtook him. It did not seem to him
that it could possibly have been he who had talked to her so
boldly only the evening before. At the thought of his temerity he
felt almost inclined to flee, yet he would not have deserted his
post for worlds. The sound of a voice shot through his troubled
thoughts like a beam of sunlight through a dark room.
"Oh, Senor Antonio! How you startled me!"
Instantly his self-possession came back.
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