"Oh, I don't know about that, my dear Myra. After all, as I have told
you, men of the Latin races make love almost indiscriminately by way of
paying a compliment, and pretty women in Spain, Italy, or France, would
feel quite insulted if the men to whom they were introduced did not
profess to be hopelessly in love with them. If you had lived abroad,
Myra, you would feel flattered rather than annoyed."
"Maybe--and maybe not," said Myra, with a toss of her red-gold head.
"If you are right, then Don Carlos is merely trying to amuse himself at
my expense. I have no use for a professional philanderer who imagines
that no woman can resist him. Him and his King of the Gypsies
prophecy! Pouf!"
Yet as she dressed for dinner a little later she found herself
recalling the passionate words of Don Carlos, remembering the ardent
light in his dark eyes, the vibrant note in his deep, musical voice,
found herself wondering, wondering, and wishing with all her heart that
Tony Standish was a little more like Don Carlos de Ruiz.
"I'm not scared of him, and I am certainly not going to lose my heart
to him," Myra whispered to her reflection in the mirror. "If Aunt
Clarissa is right, he is only making love to me for his own amusement,
and would sheer off if I took him seriously and expected him to marry
me. A pretty fool I should look if I fell in love with him, broke off
my engagement to Tony, and then Don Carlos levanted! But I'm not going
to fall in love with him.... He certainly is fascinating, and he would
be a wonderful lover if he were in earnest, but he can't make a fool of
Myra Rostrevor. I'll show the conceited creature that there is one
girl at least who does not find him irresistible, and I'll give him the
cold shoulder again at the first opportunity."
Yet again she had the opportunity sooner than she had expected. Almost
it seemed as if the fates were playing into the hands of Don Carlos.
That very evening Myra discovered, to her inward consternation, that
Don Carlos de Ruiz was the guest of honour at the dinner-dance to which
she had been invited, and her hostess, finding they had met before,
placed them together at the dinner table.
"Truly, the gods are good, fair lady!" exclaimed Don Carlos, his dark
eyes sparkling. "I am the most fortunate of men to have so lovely and
charming a partner. And I think I have reason to congratulate myself
on contriving to surprise you twice within a few hours."