"Certainly, I'm in earnest."
Edith turned away abruptly.
"I hope you're not joking," said Kirk. "Jove! I--I'm knocked clear
off my pins." A tremendous wave of excitement surged over him.
"So, that's what Alfarez meant. That's what SHE meant last night
when she told me to look up--" He broke off suddenly, for Edith's
face had gone chalk-white.
"But, Kirk, what about me?" she asked, in a strained voice.
There was deathlike silence in the room.
"You can't LOVE her," said the woman. "Why, she's only a child,
and she's--Spanish."
They stood motionless, facing each other. At last Kirk said,
gravely and deliberately,
"Yes, I love her better than anything in the world and I want to
marry her. I could give up my country, my dad--anything for her."
Pressing her gloved fingers to her temples she turned her head
blindly from side to side, whispering as if to herself:
"What will become of me?"
"Don't," he cried, in a panic, and cast a hurried look over his
shoulders. "You'll be overheard--you'll be seen. You don't know
what you're saying. Where's Cortlandt?"
"At his club, I suppose. I don't know--I--I don't care." Then the
paralysis that had numbed her vanished, and she spoke with
quivering intensity. "You've been dishonest with me, Kirk.
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