"And if I had gone into religion--and I nearly did--the Church would have had them?" "Pardon me," said Sarrion. "The Jesuits--not the Church. It is not the same thing--though the world does not yet understand that. The Jesuits would have had the money and they would have spent it in throwing Spain into another civil war which would have been a worse war than we have seen. The Church--our Church--has enemies. It has Bismarck, and the English; but it has no worse enemy than the Jesuits. For they play their own game." "At Pelota! and you and Marcos?" "We were on the other side," said Sarrion, with a shrug of the shoulders. "And I have been the ball." Sarrion glanced at her sideways. This was the moment that Marcos had always anticipated. Sarrion wondered why he should have to meet it and not Marcos. Juanita sat motionless with steady eyes fixed on the distant mountains. He looked at her lips and saw there a faint smile not devoid of pity--as if she knew something of which he was ignorant. He pulled himself together; for he was a bold man who faced his fences with a smile. "Well," he said, "... since we have won." "Have you won?" Sarrion glanced at her again. Why did she not speak plainly, he was wondering. In the subtler matters of life, women have a clearer comprehension and a plainer speech than men. When they are tongue-tied--the reason is a strong one. "At all events Señor Mon does not know when he is beaten," said Juanita, and the silence that followed was broken by the distant sound of firing. They were fighting at the mouth of the valley. "That is true," admitted Sarrion. "They say he is trapped in the valley--as we are." "So I believe." "Will he come to Torre Garda?" "As likely as not," answered Sarrion. "He has never lacked audacity." "If he comes I should like to speak to him," said Juanita. Sarrion wondered whether she intended to make Evasio Mon understand that he was beaten. It was Mon himself who had said that the woman always holds the casting vote. "At all events," said Juanita, who seemed to have returned in her thoughts to the question of winning or losing. "At all events, you played a bold game." "That is why we won," said Sarrion, stoutly. "And you did not heed the risks." "What risks?" Juanita turned and looked at him with a little laugh of scorn. "Oh, you do not understand. Neither does Marcos. I suppose men don't. You might have ruined several lives." "So might Evasio Mon," returned Sarrion sharply. And Juanita rather drew back as a fencer may flinch who has been touched. Sarrion leant back in his chair and threw away the cigarette which he had not smoked. Juanita had chosen her own ground and he had met her on it. He had answered the question which she was too proud to ask.