As the party on the corridor broke, Rezanov found no difficulty in reaching Concha's side, for even Dona Ignacia was chattering wildly with several other good dames who renewed their youth briefly at the bull-fight. "Did you enjoy that?" he asked curiously. "I did not look at it. I never do. But I know that you were not affronted. You never took your eyes from those dreadful beasts." "I am exhilarated to know that you watched me. Yes, at a bull-fight the primitive man in me has its way, although I have the grace to be ashamed of myself afterward. In that I am at least one degree more civilized than your race, which never repents." The door of one of the smaller rooms stood open, and as they took advantage of this oversight with a singular concert of motive, he clasped both her hands in his. "Are you angry with me?" he asked softly. He dared not close the door, but his back was square against it, and the other guests were moving down to the refectory. "For liking such horrid sport?" "We have no time to waste in coquetry." Her eyes melted, but she could not resist planting a dart. "Not now--I quite understand: love could never be first with you. And two years are not so long. They quickly pass when one is busy. I shall find occupation, and you will have no time for longings and regrets." They were not yet alone, women were talking in their light, high voices not a yard away. The hindrance, and her new loveliness in the soft mantilla, the pink of the roses reflected in her throat, the provocative curl of her mouth, sent the blood to his head. "You have only to say the word," he said hoarsely, "and the Juno will sail to-night." Never before had she seen his face so unmasked. Her voice shook in triumph and response. "Would you? Would you?" "Say the word!" "You would sacrifice all--the Company--your career--your Sitkans?" "All--everything." His own voice shook with more than passion, for even in that moment he counted the cost, but he did not care. But Concha detected that second break in his voice, and turned her head sadly. "You would not say that to-morrow. I hate myself that I made you say it now. I love you enough to wait forever, but I have not the courage to hand you over to your enemies." "You are strangely far-sighted for a young girl." And between admiration and pique, his ardor suffered a chill. "I am no longer a young girl. In these last days it has seemed to me that secrets locked in my brain, secrets of women long dead, but of whose essence I am, have come forth to the light. I have suffered in anticipation. My mind has flown--flown--I have lived those two years until they are twenty, thirty, and I have lived on into old age here by the sea, watching, watching--"