ims of birth and station----"

"Oh, my father, my father!" interrupted the girl joyously.

"And have given you Donna Mercedes to wife."

"Your Excellency----"

"But 'tis too late. The betrothal has been made; the contract signed; my
word is passed. In solemn attestation before our Holy Church I have
promised to give my daughter to Don Felipe de Tobar. Nothing can be
urged against the match----"

"But love," interjected Mercedes; "that is wanting."

"It seems so," returned the Viceroy. "And yet, where duty and honor
demand, love is nothing. Donna Mercedes, thou hast broken my heart. That
a Spanish gentlewoman should have shown herself so bold! I could punish
thee, but thou art mine all. I am an old man. Perhaps there is some
excuse in love. I will say no more. I will e'en forgive thee, but I must
have your words, both of you, that there shall be no more of this; that
no other word of affection for the other shall pass either lip, forever,
and that you will be forever silent about the events of this night."

"Speak thou first, Captain Alvarado," said the girl.

"You have loved me," cried the young man, turning toward Donna Mercedes,
"and you have trusted me," bowing to the old man. "Here are two appeals.
God help me, I can not hesitate. Thou shalt have my word. Would this
were the last from my lips."

"And he could promise; he could say it!" wailed the broken-hearted
woman. "O my father, he loves me not! I have been blind! I promise thee,
on the honor of a de Lara! I have leaned upon a broken reed."

"Never," cried the old man, "hath he loved thee so truly and so grandly
as at this moment."

"It may be, it may be," sobbed the girl, reeling as she spoke. "Take me
away. 'Tis more than I can bear."

Then she sank prostrate, senseless between the two men who loved her.

CHAPTER XI

WHEREIN CAPTAIN ALVARADO PLEDGES HIS WORD TO THE VICEROY OF VENEZUELA,
THE COUNT ALVARO DE LARA, AND TO DON FELIPE DE TOBAR, HIS FRIEND

"We must have assistance," cried the Viceroy in dismay. "Alvarado, do
you go and summon----"

"Into the women's apartments, my lord?"

"Nay, I will go. Watch you here. I trust you, you see," answered the old
man, promptly running through the window and out on the balcony toward
the apartments of his daughter. He went quickly but making no noise, for
he did not wish the events of the evening to become public.

Left to himself, Alvarado, resisting the temptation to take the
prostrate fo