Bandit Love

So many people had been invited to the Cavendish ball that there was

scarce room to dance. Myra caught sight of Don Carlos several times,

and her heart beat a trifle fast when at last she saw him making his

way through the crowd towards her during an interval.

"May I have the pleasure and honour of dancing the next with you, Miss

Rostrevor?" he inquired, with his usual courtly bow. "The floor is

becoming less crowded now the news has gone round that supper is being

served."

Myra's first impulse was to snub him, but she refrained, rose without a

word as the music re-started, and they glided round together to the

lilting refrain of the band. Both were extremely graceful and

accomplished dancers, and several other couples ceased dancing to watch

them, giving them the centre of the floor.

"Are you afraid to look at me, cara mia?" whispered Don Carlos, after a

few minutes. "I want to look deep into your dear blue eyes and try to

read what is in your heart."

"I am afraid the result would be a shock to your overweening vanity,

Don Carlos," responded Myra coldly, still avoiding his eyes. "I am

very angry with you, and I am surprised you should have had the

audacity to ask me to dance with you before even attempting to offer

any apology for your outrageous behaviour of this afternoon."

"Dear, darling, delicious, delectable lady, why should I apologise for

taking up your challenge and redeeming my promise?" Don Carlos asked.

"Why profess to be offended with the man who loves you so passionately

for taking a few of the kisses for which he was craving and hungering?

What is it your great Shakespeare wrote that fits our case? ... Ah! I

have it! ..."

He sang the words softly, fitting them to the rhythm of the air the

dance-band was playing: "'A thousand kisses buys my heart from me;

And pay them at your leisure, one by one.

What are ten hundred touches unto thee?

Are they not quickly told and quickly gone?

Say for non-payment that the debt should double;

Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?'"

"Oh, you are an utterly outrageous and impossible man!" exclaimed Myra,

half-annoyed, half-amused, and at heart a little fascinated withal.

"Even if I did flirt with you at Auchinleven to amuse myself, you had

no right to take my teasing seriously--you, who are such an experienced

flirt and philanderer, and who do not expect women to take your

love-making seriously and laugh at them if they do."