"That isn't the point, Don Carlos," hastily interposed Tony, beginning
to regret having made so much fuss. "I--er--I am willing to believe
that you have not seriously been trying to steal Myra's affections away
from me, or that possibly Myra may have taken you too seriously."
"How can a mere man hope to read what is in the heart of a woman?"
responded Don Carlos, helping himself to a cigarette. "Our Spanish
girls, if they think an accepted lover is not sufficiently devoted and
attentive, will complain that another man is making passionate
love--thus arousing the lover's jealousy and re-firing him with ardour;
and a married woman will invent a lover and complain of his attentions
for the same reason, if her husband's love seems to be cooling."
"I say, Don Carlos, are you suggesting that Myra complained for that
reason--because she thinks I'm not keen enough?"
"My dear Standish, I am not suggesting anything. I am merely trying to
explain the psychology of the women of my own country as I understand
it. Yet I doubt if Englishwomen differ very greatly, after all, from
their Latin sisters where affairs of the heart are concerned. Won't
you have a cigarette?"
Tony accepted a cigarette from the silver-and-cedar-wood box that was
slid across the table to him, and he lit it with thoughtful
deliberation. Had Myra complained about Don Carlos making love to her
just to keep him "up to scratch," he was wondering, and found himself
more puzzled than ever. He knew that lots of men had been, and
probably still were, in love with Myra, and that fact made him the more
proud to be her accepted lover. He recalled Myra's boast that there
was no horse or man she could not master, and he found it a little
difficult to believe she was really scared of Don Carlos.
"In my country, Mr. Standish, a man betrothed to a girl as beautiful as
Miss Rostrevor would feel almost insulted if his friends did not openly
envy him and protest themselves hopelessly in love with the young lady
he had won," resumed Don Carlos. "The lady herself would feel slighted
if the friends of her betrothed did not continue to attempt to make
love to her. To profess to be heartbroken because she belongs to
another, and to make love to a betrothed girl or a married woman, is
surely paying an indirect compliment to the accepted lover or husband,
as well as a direct compliment to the lady."
"Humph! I hadn't thought of it that way," commented Tony drily. "It
would never have occurred to me for a moment that in making love to
Myra you were paying me any sort of compliment. Here in England, Don
Carlos, any man who persists in making love to an engaged girl or a
married woman is asking for trouble. Of course, I can appreciate the
fact that most women would feel flattered by the thought that a man
like you had fallen in love with them, even if you were only pretending
out of a desire to be polite, but--er--well, obviously Myra appears to
be more annoyed than flattered. Perhaps, as I said before, she has
taken you too seriously."