It would have been easy enough for us to meet there." Again she replied, "No!" A note of obstinacy was audible.
"Why ?" Joan did not answer at all.
"I'll tell you," Escobar flashed out at her angrily.

"You wouldn't be seen with me any more! Suddenly, you would not be seen with me--no, not for the world! That's the truth, isn't it?
That's why you come secretly back and bid me meet you in an empty house." "Hush!" pleaded Joan.
Mario Escobar's voice had risen as his own words flogged him to a keener indignation.
"Why should I care if all the world hears me ?" he replied roughly.

"Why should I consider you, who turn me down the moment it suits you, without a reason?
It's fairly galling to me, I assure you." Joan nodded her head.

Mario Escobar had some right upon his side, she was ready to acknowledge.
"I beg your pardon," she said simply.

"Won't you please be content with that and leave things as they are ?" "When you are a little older you will know that you can never leave things as they are," answered Mario.