"Stay!" cried she, impetuously. "Did I not tell you then, before the
assembled witnesses--before my father--what a mockery this same ceremony
was; that its whole aim and object was to take advantage of that
disgraceful law that can make an unmarried girl a widow, to inherit
the fortune of one she never would have accepted as her husband. Speak,
sir!--and say, did I not tell you this, and more too, that such a bridal
ceremony brought little fortune to the bridegroom; for that already
I had been thrice a widowed bride? Nay, more, you heard me swear as
solemnly, that while I regarded the act as one of deep profanation,
I felt in nowise bound by it. It is idle, then, to speak of our
betrothal!"

"It is true, Maritana, you said all this; although, perhaps, you had not
now remembered it, had not some other succeeded to that place in your
regard--"

"There, there!" cried she, stopping him impatiently. "I will not listen
again to the bead-roll of your jealousies. People must have loved very
little, or too much, to endure that kind of torture. Besides, why tell
me of these things? You are, they say, a most accomplished hunter, and
can answer me,--if, when in chase of an antelope, a jaguar joins the
sport, you do not turn upon him at once, the worthier and nobler enemy,
and thus, as it were, protect what had been your prey."

The youth seemed stung to the quick by this pitiless sarcasm; and,
although he made no reply, his hands, convulsively clutched, bespoke
the torrent of agitation within him. "You are right, Maritana!" said be,
after a pause. "It is idle to talk of our betrothal,--I release you."

"Release _me!_" said she, laughing contemptuously; "this is a task I
always perform for myself, senhor, and by the shortest method, as
thus." As she spoke, she struggled to tear from her finger a ring which
resisted all her efforts. At last, by a violent wrench, she succeeded,
and holding it up for a second, till the large diamond glittered like
a star, she threw it into the still fountain at her feet "There, _amigo
mio_, I release you,--never was freedom more willingly accorded!"

"Never was there a slave more weary of his servitude!" said the youth,
bitterly. "If Don Pedro Rica but tear his accursed bond, I should feel
myself my own again."

"He will scarce refuse you, sir, if the rumor be correct that says
you have lost eleven thousand doubloons at play. The wealthy conqueror
stands on very different ground from _the_ ruin