For the rest of the evening Myra continued to avoid Don Carlos as much
as possible, but she smiled at him in tantalisingly alluring fashion
every time their eyes met, wondering as she did so what was in his mind
and what effect her coquetry had had upon him. And she went to bed
feeling that she had, at least, done something towards justifying her
boast that she would make Don Carlos fall in love with her in earnest.
At dead of night she woke suddenly, with the feeling strong upon her
that someone, or something, had touched her, but when she sat up in bed
and switched on the lights she could see nothing to give her any cause
for alarm. Deciding she must have been dreaming, Myra was about to
switch off the lights and compose herself to sleep again, when her eyes
fell on a folded sheet of notepaper on her pillow. With a sudden
intake of breath, she picked up the note, unfolded it, and read:
"The man who loves you will kiss you in the way you would love to be
kissed as soon as he is relieved of his promise. Relieve him of his
promise, and leave the door of your bedroom unlocked again to-morrow
night."
Myra read the note again and again, her mind in something of a tumult,
her heart throbbing fast. She knew it must have been written by Don
Carlos, and she was dismayed by the thought that he had been in her
room.
"There seems to be no limit to the man's daring and impudence," she
reflected, and was annoyed to find that she was blushing. "What cheek
to suggest that I should relieve him of his promise not to make love to
me--and leave my bedroom door unlocked! What infernal, stupendous,
insulting cheek! ... Yet I suppose he accepted what I said to Tony as
an invitation and a challenge--as I intended. Heavens! if anyone
should have seen him leaving my room at this time of the morning, I
shouldn't have a rag of reputation left. I should be hopelessly
compromised, and it wouldn't be much use producing this letter in the
hope of clearing myself. Still, I don't suppose anyone else was
prowling about at this time of the night or morning... I wonder if he
touched me or kissed me? I wonder if he is really in love with me? I
wonder..."
Myra did quite a lot of wondering before she eventually drifted into
slumber again, and when she was reawakened by her maid bringing her
morning tea, it was to find that she had been sleeping with Don
Carlos's note clasped against her breast.