“So do I. And the fact that he warned us of the raid so that nothing should be discovered satisfies me of his good faith.” “Very well, then, we must be content to differ about it.” “You will not forget that he had stronger cause for distrusting you than we had. We believed that you had come here for very different reasons from those openly given--reasons which touched him very closely indeed.” “Did he think I came after him, do you mean?” I asked with a smile. “No, of course not,” he replied, nettled by my smile,--as, indeed, I intended he should be. “He believed that you had come on a very different person’s account.” Why did he fight shy of mentioning Miralda by name? And why was he himself so interested in forcing Sampayo to marry her, when the man himself had offered to take any oath I wished that he would not? “I don’t care a rap what he believed,” I said, after a moment’s pause. “But we care, Mr. Donnington?” I paused and then asked sharply: “What is Miralda Dominguez to you, Dr. Barosa?” The question took him by surprise, and the sudden light which gleamed in his eyes answered my question. “She is nothing to me, personally, of course,” he protested. “You misunderstand my question. What is she to you and your friends?” It was not prudent yet to show him that I believed I had guessed his secret of secrets. “She is one of us, Mr. Donnington. She is in a position to render our cause valuable help, as she has already done. It is more to the point to ask what she is to you.” I had another shaft ready, but to prepare the way for the surprise I paused, gave a shrug and a smile of indifference, and then said quickly: “I hope to make her my wife.” Once more the sudden flame in his eyes confirmed my former diagnosis. “That will not be possible, Mr. Donnington.” “We shall see. I doubt if I am more easily turned from a course I have once taken than you yourself. I’ll tell you how I view the thing, for it is the pith and marrow of this business with Sampayo. I came here for the express purpose of asking her to become my wife. I found her promised to Major Sampayo. I set my wits to work and my money, and ascertained that she had been driven to compromise herself in your politics. By means of money I succeeded in learning how she had been forced to join you. My whip-hand over Sampayo led him to admit that he did not really wish to marry her--and I found that you were really the background force which made him shrink from an open rupture with her. He agreed to a secret one and gave me a letter to her. I took that letter and she absolutely refused to open it. I saw, therefore, that Sampayo had been to you and that you had ordered her not to read it. Now I’ve spoken frankly and invite similar freedom from you. Why did you do this?” “I cannot explain to you without entering into matters that are secret--political matters, I mean, of course,” he replied, making the addition quickly.