What matters if tonight or later?
Jovita (quickly). I am ready. It was you who--
Oakhurst. It was I who first demanded secrecy, but it was I who
told you when we last met that I would tell you why to-night.
Jovita. I am ready; but hear me, Juan, nothing can change my faith
in you!
Oakhurst (sadly). You know not what you say. Listen, my child. I
am a gambler. Not the man who lavishes his fortune at the gaming-
table for excitement's sake; not the fanatic who stakes his own
earnings--perhaps the confided earnings of others--on a single
coup. No, he is the man who loses,--whom the world deplores,
pities, and forgives. I am the man who wins--whom the world hates
and despises.
Jovita. I do not understand you, Juan.
Oakhurst. So much the better, perhaps. But you must hear me. I
make a profession--an occupation more exacting, more wearying, more
laborious, than that of your meanest herdsman--of that which others
make a dissipation of the senses. And yet, Jovita, there is not
the meanest vaquero in this ranch, who, playing against me, winning
or losing, is not held to be my superior. I have no friends--only
confederates. Even the woman who dares to pity me must do it in
secret.
Jovita. But you will abandon this dreadful trade. As the son of
the rich Don Jose, no one dare scorn you. My father will relent.
I am his heiress.
Oakhurst. No more, Jovita, no more.
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