"Yes," she said, with a tantalizing coquetry that might have
suggested an underlying seriousness. "I think you HAVE lost a good
deal. Perhaps, so have I. We might have been good friends in all
these years. But that is past."
"Why? Surely, I hope, my shortcomings with Miss Yerba Buena will
not be remembered by Miss Arguello?" sail Paul, earnestly.
"Ah! SHE may be a very different person."
"I hope not," said the young man, warmly. "But HOW different?"
"Well, she may not put herself in the way of receiving such point-
blank compliments as that," said the young girl, demurely.
"Not from her guardian?"
"She will have no guardian then." She said this gravely, but
almost at the same moment turned and sat down again, throwing her
linked hands over her knee, and looked at him mischievously. "You
see what you have lost, sir."
"I see," said Paul, but with all the gravity that she had dropped.
"No; but you don't see all. I had no brother--no friend. You
might have been both. You might have made me what you liked. You
might have educated me far better than these teachers, or, at least
given me some pride in my studies. There were so many things I
wanted to know that they couldn't teach me; so many times I wanted
advice from some one that I could trust.
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