below her. Clay considered her challenge silently. He did not
know just how much it might mean from her, and the smile robbed
it of all serious intent; so he, too, turned and looked down into
the great square below them, content, now that she was alone with
him, to take his time.

At one end of the plaza the President's band was playing native
waltzes that came throbbing through the trees and beating softly
above the rustling skirts and clinking spurs of the senoritas
and officers, sweeping by in two opposite circles around the
edges of the tessellated pavements. Above the palms around the
square arose the dim, white facade of the cathedral, with the
bronze statue of Anduella, the liberator of Olancho, who answered
with his upraised arm and cocked hat the cheers of an imaginary
populace. Clay's had been an unobtrusive part in the evening's
entertainment, but he saw that the others had been pleased, and
felt a certain satisfaction in thinking that King himself could
not have planned and carried out a dinner more admirable in every
way. He was gratified that they should know him to be not
altogether a barbarian. But what he best liked to remember was
that whenever he had spoken she had listened, even when her eyes
were turned away and she was pretending to listen to some
one else. He tormented himself by wondering whether this was
because he interested her only as a new and strange character, or
whether she felt in some way how eagerly he was seeking her
approbation. For the first time in his life he found himself
considering what he was about to say, and he suited it for her
possible liking. It was at least some satisfaction that she had,
if only for the time being, singled him out as of especial
interest, and he assured himself that the fault would be his if