You have taken me so by surprise!" "Every moment that you take to think is torture to me," he pleaded, as he continued to press her.
Perhaps she was on the point of giving way before his insistence.

Consider the advantages that he had over her in this struggle of wills for the mastery.

He was older by ten years; he possessed both the adroitness of self-command and the energy of passion; he had a long experience in love matters, while she had none.

He was the proclaimed heir of a man reputed wealthy, and could therefore, as she believed, support her handsomely.
Since the death of her father she considered Garcia the head of her family in New Mexico; and Coronado had had the face to tell her that he made his offer with the approval of Garcia.

Then she was under supposed obligations to him, and he was to be her protector across the desert.
She was as it were reeling in her saddle, when a truly Spanish idea saved her.
"Munoz!" she exclaimed.