That
shameless creature is costing us too dear. She must leave the
house."
Felipe's heart gave a bound; Ramona had not been mistaken, then.
A bitter shame seized him at his mother's cruelty. But her tears
made him tender; and it was in a gentle, even pleading voice that
he replied: "I do not see, mother, why you call Ramona shameless.
There is nothing wrong in her loving Alessandro."
"I found her in his arms!" exclaimed the Senora.
"I know," said Felipe; "Alessandro told me that he had just at that
instant told her he loved her, and she had said she loved him, and
would marry him, just as you came up."
"Humph!" retorted the Senora; "do you think that Indian would
have dared to speak a word of love to the Senorita Ramona
Ortegna, if she had not conducted herself shamelessly? I wonder
that he concerned himself to speak about marriage to her at all."
"Oh, mother! mother!" was all that Felipe could say to this. He was
aghast. He saw now, in a flash, the whole picture as it lay in his
mother's mind, and his heart sank within him. "Mother!" he
repeated, in a tone which spoke volumes.
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