Chapter 3 - Page 2

"None. You are more mysterious than ever, and I shall, in truth, believe
you are the enchantress I have so often called you if your spells work
invisibly."

"They do not, and I use no supernatural arts, as I will prove to you.
Take my lorgnette that lies behind you, part the leaves where the green
grapes hang thickest, look up at the little window in the shadowy angle
of the low roof opposite, and tell me what you see."

"Nothing but a half-drawn curtain."

"Ah! I must try the ruse that first convinced me. Do not show yourself,
but watch, and if you speak, let it be in Spanish."

Leaving her airy cradle, Pauline bent over the balcony as if to gather
the climbing roses that waved their ruddy clusters in the wind. Before
the third stem was broken Manuel whispered, "I see the curtain move; now
comes the outline of a head, and now a hand, with some bright object in
it. Santo Pablo! It is a man staring at you as coolly as if you were a
lady in a balcony. What prying rascal is it?"

"Gilbert."

"Impossible! He is a gentleman."

"If gentlemen play the traitor and the spy, then he is one. I am not
mistaken; for since the glitter of his glass first arrested me I have
watched covertly, and several trials as successful as the present have
confirmed the suspicion which Babie's innocent complaints of his long
absences aroused. Now do you comprehend why I remained in these rooms
with the curtains seldom drawn? Why I swung the hammock here and let you
sing and read to me while I played with your hair or leaned upon your
shoulder? Why I have been all devotion and made this balcony a little
stage for the performance of our version of the honeymoon for one
spectator?"

Still mindful of the eager eyes upon her, Pauline had been fastening the
roses in her bosom as she spoke, and ended with a silvery laugh that
made the silence musical with its heartsome sound. As she paused, Manuel
flung down the lorgnette and was striding past her with ireful
impetuosity, but the white arms took him captive, adding another figure
to the picture framed by the green arch as she whispered decisively, "No
farther! There must be no violence. You promised obedience and I exact
it. Do you think detection to a man so lost to honor would wound as
deeply as the sights which make his daily watch a torment? Or that a
blow would be as hard to bear as the knowledge that his own act has
placed you where you are and made him what he is? Silent contempt is the
law now, so let this insult pass, unclench your hand and turn that
defiant face to me, while I console you for submission with a kiss."

He yielded to the command enforced by the caress