"I didn't exactly press him, but I told him that if he felt he must
decline my invitation because he was in love with you, we should
naturally have to decline his invitation to Spain for the same reason,"
responded Tony. "I told him he ought to have known you were only
amusing yourself to pay him out, and that he should have known better
than lose his heart after you had objected to his attempting to make
love to you. So eventually he laughed and said if I wasn't afraid of
him as a rival he would come. I hope you don't mind, darling. I told
him he hadn't an earthly hope."
"It is nice to know you are so sure of me that you have no fear of a
rival," commented Myra drily, after a momentary pause.
"I say, Myra, do you mean that, or are you being sarcastic?" asked
Tony. "What could I do in the circumstances? Perhaps I shouldn't have
mentioned the matter to you at all, but--er--I thought you might feel
rather flattered to know that you have made another conquest, and you
know you said you weren't in the least afraid of Don Carlos. I
thought, too, that you'd take it rather as a compliment if I showed I
had complete faith in you. You didn't really want me to display
jealousy, did you?"
"I don't know, Tony," replied Myra evasively. "If the positions were
reversed and I were engaged to Don Carlos and you had been making love
to me, I expect he would have killed you by now, and perhaps strangled
me into the bargain."
"Englishmen don't do that sort of thing," remarked Tony, looking hurt.
"If you mean you would prefer me to behave like an emotional
foreigner----"
"Oh, Tony, dear, don't be absurd!" interrupted Myra, her mood changing.
"I see how you looked at the matter, and I know I should be glad you
have such faith in me. But don't you think Don Carlos may regard your
indifference to his rivalry as being almost in the nature of a
challenge?"
"I hadn't thought of it that way, Myra, but in any case I know you'll
be able to keep Don Carlos at a distance if he should try to make love
to you again," answered Tony. "Sure you're not vexed with me, dear?"
"I don't know whether I'm vexed or pleased, amused or scared, but I am
certainly thrilled," said Myra. "To think that Don Carlos, who boasted
that no woman could resist him, should confess to you, that he has lost
his heart to me!"