on the flushed, averted face of her suitor.

"I shall never see Europe," she said gently, "and
I shall never marry."

"Not if this Russian asks you?" cried Sturgis, in
his jealous misery.

But Concha's anger did not rise again. "He has
no intention of asking a little California girl to
share the honors of one of the most brilliant careers
in Europe," she said calmly. "Set your mind at
rest. He has paid me no more attention than is due
my position as the daughter of the Commandante,
and perhaps of La Favorita. If I flirt a little and
he flirts in response, that is nothing. Is he not then
a man? But he will forget me in a month. The
world, his world, is full of pretty girls."

"A week ago you would not have said that," said
Sturgis shrewdly. "There has been nothing in your
life to make you so humble."

"I cannot explain, but he seems to have brought
the great world with him. I know, I understand
so many things that I had not dreamed of a week
ago. A week! Madre de Dios!"

And Sturgis, who after all was a gallant gentle-
man, made no comment.