VIII

When morning came I was too stiff and sore to move, and not until the
following day was I able to creep out to sit in the shade of the trees.
My old host, whose name was Nuflo, went off with his dogs, leaving
the girl to attend to my wants. Two or three times during the day she
appeared to serve me with food and drink, but she continued silent and
constrained in manner as on the first evening of seeing her in the hut.

Late in the afternoon old Nuflo returned, but did not say where he had
been; and shortly afterwards Rima reappeared, demure as usual, in her
faded cotton dress, her cloud of hair confined in two long plaits.
My curiosity was more excited than ever, and I resolved to get to
the bottom of the mystery of her life. The girl had not shown herself
responsive, but now that Nuflo was back I was treated to as much talk as
I cared to hear. He talked of many things, only omitting those which
I desired to hear about; but his pet subject appeared to be the
divine government of the world--"God's politics"--and its manifest
imperfections, or, in other words, the manifold abuses which from time
to time had been allowed to creep into it. The old man was pious, but
like many of his class in my country, he permitted himself to indulge in
very free criticisms of the powers above, from the King of Heaven down
to the smallest saint whose name figures in the calendar.

"These things, senor," he said, "are not properly managed. Consider my
position. Here am I compelled for my sins to inhabit this wilderness
with my poor granddaughter--"

"She is not your granddaughter!" I suddenly interrupted, thinking to
surprise him into an admission.

But he took his time to answer. "Senor, we are never sure of anything in
this world. Not absolutely sure. Thus, it may come to pass that you will
one day marry, and that your wife will in due time present you with
a son--one that will inherit your fortune and transmit your name
to posterity. And yet, sir, in this world, you will never know to a
certainty that he is your son."

"Proceed with what you were saying," I returned, with some dignity.

"Here we are," he continued, "compelled to inhabit this land and do not
meet with proper protection from the infidel. Now, sir, this is a crying
evil, and it is only becoming in one who has the true faith, and is a
loyal subject of the All-Powerful, to point out with due humility that
He is growing very remiss in His affairs, and is losing a