When he prattled compliments and expressions of devotion, whether to herself or to others, she made Spanish allowance.

It was polite hyperbole; it was about the same as saying good-morning; it was a cheerful way of talking that they had in Mexico; she knew thus much from her social experience.

But while she cared little for his adulations, she did not because of them consider him a scoundrel, nor necessarily a hypocrite.
Coronado found and improved opportunities to talk in asides with Clara.
Thurstane, the modest, proud, manly youngster, who had no meannesses or trickeries by nature, and had learned none in his honorable profession, would not allow himself to break into these dialogues if they looked at all like confidences.

The more he suspected that Coronado was courting Clara, the more resolutely and grimly he said to himself, "Stand back!" The girl should be perfectly free to choose between them; she should be influenced by no compulsions and no stratagems of his; was he not "an officer and a gentleman"?
"By Jove! I am miserable for life," he thought when he suspected, as he sometimes did, that they two were in love.

"I'll get myself killed in my next fight.