She was speaking very earnestly, without moving, her gaze lost on that immense sheet of water.

Rafael dared to look at her squarely now.  He had raised his head and was studying her as she stood there thinking.  Her beautiful face was tinted with a bluish light, that seemed to surround her with a halo of romance.  Morning was coming on, and the leaden curtains of the sky were rent in the direction of the sea, allowing a livid light to filter through.

Leonora shivered as if from cold, and snuggled instinctively against Rafael.  With a shake of her head she seemed to rout a troop of painful thoughts, and stretching out a hand to him she said: 

“Which shall it be?  Friends, or distant acquaintances?  Do you promise to be good, be a real comrade?”

Rafael eagerly clasped that soft, muscular hand, and felt her rings cut deliciously into his fingers.

“Very well—­friends then!...  I’ll resign myself, since there’s no help for it.”

“In that case you will find what you now believe a sacrifice something quite tolerable and quite consoling; you don’t know me, but I know myself.  Believe me, even should I come to love you—­as I never shall—­you would be the loser by it.  I am worth much more as a friend than as a lover.  And more than one man in the world has found that out.”

“I will be a friend, ready to do much more for you than I’ve done to-night.  I hope you will come to know me too.”

“No promises now!  What more can you do for me?  The river doesn’t flood every day.  You can’t expect to be a hero every other moment.  No, I’m satisfied with to-night’s exploit.  You can’t imagine how grateful I am.  It has made a very deep impression on my—­friendly—­heart....  May I be quite frank?  Well, when I met you there at the Hermitage, I took you for one of these local senoritos who have such an easy time of it in town, and so, look upon every woman they meet as their property for the asking.  Afterwards, when I saw you lurking about the house, my scorn increased.  ‘Who does that little dandy think he is?’ I said to myself.  And how Beppa and I laughed over it!  I hadn’t even noticed your face and your figure:  I hadn’t realized how handsome you were....”

Leonora laughed at the thought of how angry she had been, and Rafael, overwhelmed by such candor, likewise smiled to conceal his embarrassment.

“But after what happened to-night I am fond of you ... as people are fond of friends.  I am alone here:  the friendship of a good and noble boy like yourself, capable of sacrifice for a woman whom he hardly knows, is a very comforting thing to have.  Besides, that much doesn’t compromise me.  I am a bird of passage, you see; I have alighted here because I’m tired, ill—­I don’t just know what’s the matter, but deeply broken in spirit anyhow.  I need rest, just plain existence—­a plunge into sweet nothingness, where I can forget everything; and I gratefully accept your friendship.