hands the soul of an angel, and he will damn it!
_Santa Virgen_! If you had only taken the money I brought you--"

"Demon-tongue, I will take it now!" He snatched the roll of bills from
her hand and bolted through the door. With a low moan the woman sank
to the ground, while oblivion drew its sable veil across her mind.

Reaching the study, Diego pushed Carmen into the room and then
followed, closing the door after him and throwing the iron bolt.
Turning about, he stood with arms akimbo upon his bulging hips and
gazed long and admiringly at the girl as she waited in expectant
wonder before him. A smile of satisfaction and triumph slowly spread
over his coarse features. Then it faded, and his heavy jowls and deep
furrows formed into an expression, sinister and ominous, through which
lewdness, debauchery, and utter corruption looked out brazenly,
defiantly, into the fair, open countenance of the young girl before
him. A sense of weariness and dull pain then seemed to follow. He
shook his heavy head and passed a hand across his brow, as if to brush
aside the confusion left by the previous night's potations.

"_Madre de Dios_!" he muttered, falling heavily into a chair, "but had
I known you were here, little rosebud, I should have tried to keep
sober." He reached out to grasp her; but she eluded him and went
quickly to the open window, where she stood looking down into the
street below. The morning sunlight, streaming into the room, engulfed
her in its golden flood and transmuted the child of earth into a
creature divinely radiant, despite the torn gown and stains of river
travel.

"_Bien, carisima_," the man wheedled in a small, caressing voice,
"where is your greeting to your glad padre? _Dios mio_!" he muttered,
his eyes roving over her full figure, "but the Virgin herself was
never more lovely! Come, daughter," he purred, extending his arms;
"come to a father's heart that now, praise the Saints! shall ache no
more for its lost darling."

The girl faced about and looked at him for a few moments. What her
glance conveyed, the man was utterly incapable of understanding. Then
she drew up a chair that stood near the window, and sinking into it,
buried her face in her hands.

"_Caramba_, my smile of heaven! but why weep?" chirped Diego,
affecting surprise. "Is it thus you celebrate your homecoming? Or are
these, perchance, fitting tears of joy? _Bien_, your padre's doting
heart itself weeps that its years of loneliness