panish friends to dine
with them--Lady Mabel seating Don Alonso beside her, and losing not a
word of his grandiloquence. After the meal the party dispersed--most
of them taking a siesta in order to get rid of two or three hot hours
of the afternoon before they set out on their way back to Elvas. Their
Spanish friends however, returned and persuaded them to postpone their
ride until they had taken an evening promenade on the bridge, the
favorite resort of the ladies of Badajoz and their cavaliers during
the hot weather. Here they enjoy an extended prospect, and the cooling
breezes that attend the current of a great river.

They found here many of the first people of Badajoz and many of the
Spanish officers and their fair friends. Leaning against the parapet
of the bridge, Lady Mabel forgot the idlers walking by, while she
gazed on the scenery around, or watched the gliding stream below, and
listened to L'Isle speaking of the Guadiana; of its mysterious
disappearance near its source, its course betrayed only by the rich
pastures overlying the subterranean streams, of its return to daylight
in the lakes called its eyes: _Ojos de la Guadiana_; and following it
to Portugal, to the _Salto de Lobo_, so called because a wolf might
leap across the deep but narrow chasm between the overhanging rocks,
he named the noted places on its banks, and quoted many a ballad of
which it was the theme. Presently, finding themselves almost alone
they followed their companions, to the bridge head, and joined the
large company assembled in this outwork. The Spanish officers had
provided music for their entertainment, and oranges and confectionary
were handed about. Of the latter, the Spanish and Portuguese ladies,
according to national habit, eat a great quantity. After a pause the
musicians struck up a lively seguidilla, the gentlemen secured
partners, Lady Mabel declining a dozen applications, and with
difficulty ridding herself of Don Alonso, who could not understand how
a lady who delighted so much in his conversation could refuse to dance
with him.

The level space within this outwork was now crowded with couples, the
Portuguese ladies entering fully into the spirit of the hour. Mrs.
Shortridge and Lady Mabel stood aside, with L'Isle, and had the
pleasure of witnessing a genuine _impromptu_ Spanish ball in the open
air. They were at once struck with the sudden gayety and activity of a
people habitually so grave and inert. But as one danc