seated herself at the window, looking out, but listening intently. The month had done much for Alessandro with Ramona, though neither Alessandro nor Ramona knew it. It had done this much,—that Ramona knew always when Alessandro was near, that she trusted him, and that she had ceased to think of him as an Indian any more than when she thought of Felipe, she thought of him as a Mexican. Moreover, seeing the two men frequently together, she had admitted to herself, as Margarita had done before her, that Alessandro was far the handsomer man of the two. This Ramona did not like to admit, but she could not help it.
“I wish Felipe were as tall and strong as Alessandro,” she said to herself many a time. “I do not see why he could not have been. I wonder if the Señora sees how much handsomer Alessandro is.”
When Felipe said that he did not believe he could offer Alessandro Assis money enough to tempt him to stay on the place, Ramona opened her lips suddenly, as if to speak, then changed her mind, and remained silent. She had sometimes displeased the Señora by taking part in conversations between her and her son.
Felipe saw the motion, but he also thought it wiser to wait till after his mother had left the room, before he asked Ramona what she was on the point of saying. As soon as the Señora went out, he said, “What was it, Ramona, you were going to say just now?”
Ramona colored. She had decided not to say it.
“Tell me, Ramona,” persisted Felipe. “You were going to say something about Alessandro's staying; I know you were.”
Ramona did not answer. For the first time in her life she found herself embarrassed before Felipe.
“Don't you like Alessandro?” said Felipe.
