"I am to be trusted, really, you know," she pleaded. "I can be as close as wax." "I will tell you some day," he answered. He thought, as he spoke, the day might be a very long one. "But you will tell Contraras and everybody then," she pouted. "I thought we had been such pails." It suddenly dawned upon him that this adventuress, as he had always looked upon her, was falling in love with him. He was not quite certain that he was not falling in love a little bit with her. If he were only certain that in her were the makings of a good woman! But he would require great proofs of that. He broke a rather embarrassed silence. "Well, now you will get your revenge on Guy Rossett." "I am not quite so certain that I want it now." She spoke in a very low voice. "But this is a very different mood from that of a certain night at Mount Street." "I know, I know." Violet spoke a little wildly. "I was very bitter then. Things seemed changed somehow." "You know that Guy Rossett has to be `removed,' in obedience to the orders of our revered chief?" "I know, I know." Suddenly she burst into bitter sobbing. Presently she lifted her tear-stained face. "You think I am a very bad woman, don't you? I am not really, only hard and embittered with my early life. If I could only find somebody who really cared for me!" It was a clear invitation. Moreno took her hand in his; he could not disguise from himself that he was attracted. But, at the same time, he did not lose his head. Could he trust her--would she be useful for his purpose? "Suppose that I said I cared?" Violet sobbed afresh. "No, no, it is impossible. You would never believe in me, you could never trust me." And then Moreno leaned forward and spoke to her, very gravely. "I think, before you leave, we must have a little conversation together. When it is finished, I will tell you whether I trust you or not." CHAPTER NINETEEN. It was a long time before Moreno spoke. It was evident that, in her present mood, Violet Hargrave was perfectly prepared to be made love to. It was not the first time it had occurred to him that this woman of mixed nationality like himself was more than usually attracted by him. But although he was one of the vainest men living in certain respects, notably in the high estimate in which he always held his own capacity and mental qualities, still in other matters he was fairly modest. Every man can get some woman to fall in love with him, or, at any rate, to profess affection. Some day he would come across a woman whom he could impress sufficiently to justify him in asking her to marry him. For the time would come when, like other men, even of the most roving disposition, he would want to say good-bye to adventure and settle down quietly.