hair; with a rather large mouth, whose mere parting seemed to breathe
upon you the fragrance of frankness and generosity, had the fastidious
soul of an experienced woman. She was, before all things and all
flatteries, careful of her pride in the object of her choice. But now he
was actually not looking at her at all; and his expression was tense and
irrational, as is natural in a man who elects to stare at nothing past a
young girl's head.

"Well, yes. It was iniquitous. They corrupted him thoroughly, the poor
old boy. Oh! why wouldn't he let me go back to him? But now I shall know
how to grapple with this."

After pronouncing these words with immense assurance, he glanced down at
her, and at once fell a prey to distress, incertitude, and fear.

The only thing he wanted to know now, he said, was whether she did love
him enough--whether she would have the courage to go with him so far
away? He put these questions to her in a voice that trembled with
anxiety--for he was a determined man.

She did. She would. And immediately the future hostess of all the
Europeans in Sulaco had the physical experience of the earth falling
away from under her. It vanished completely, even to the very sound of
the bell. When her feet touched the ground again, the bell was still
ringing in the valley; she put her hands up to her hair, breathing
quickly, and glanced up and down the stony lane. It was reassuringly
empty. Meantime, Charles, stepping with one foot into a dry and dusty
ditch, picked up the open parasol, which had bounded away from them
with a martial sound of drum taps. He handed it to her soberly, a little
crestfallen.