I believe Madame has no friends. Not one." So
instead of a large sum of money Dona Rita gave the girl a kiss and
as she had been worried by several people who wanted her to go to
Tolosa she bolted down this way just to get clear of all those
busybodies. "Hide from them," she went on with ardour. "Yes, I
came here to hide," she repeated twice as if delighted at last to
have hit on that reason among so many others. "How could I tell
that you would be here?" Then with sudden fire which only added to
the delight with which I had been watching the play of her
physiognomy she added: "Why did you come into this room?"
She enchanted me. The ardent modulations of the sound, the slight
play of the beautiful lips, the still, deep sapphire gleam in those
long eyes inherited from the dawn of ages and that seemed always to
watch unimaginable things, that underlying faint ripple of gaiety
that played under all her moods as though it had been a gift from
the high gods moved to pity for this lonely mortal, all this within
the four walls and displayed for me alone gave me the sense of
almost intolerable joy. The words didn't matter. They had to be
answered, of course.
"I came in for several reasons.
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