e realized, and I endeavour to forget it. I myself
put an end to it; and not under present circumstances, perhaps under
none, should I think myself justified in seeking its renewal. Let us
talk of something else--of the future if you will, but not of the
past."

The hours passed by Luis beside Don Manuel's death-bed, had witnessed
a violent revolution in his feelings and character. Devotedly attached
to his father, who had been the sole friend, almost the only
companion, of his boyhood, the fiercer passions of Herrera's nature
were awakened into sudden and violent action by his untimely fate. A
burning desire of revenge on the unscrupulous faction to which the
persecution, exile, and cruel death of Don Manuel were to be
attributed, took possession of him; and in order to gratify this
desire, and at the same time to fulfil the solemn pledge he had given
to his dying parent, he felt himself at the moment capable of
sacrificing even his love for Rita. No sooner was the mournful
ceremony of the interment over, than he wrote to Villabuena, informing
him, in a few stern words, how those who professed like him to be the
defenders of religion and legitimacy, had enacted the part of
assassins and incendiaries, and shed his father's blood upon his own
threshold. This communication he considered to be, without further
comment, a sufficient reply to the proposition made to him by the
count a few days previously. At the same time--and this was by far the
most difficult part of his self-imposed task--he addressed a letter to
Rita, releasing her from her engagement. He felt, he told her, that,
by so doing, he renounced all his fondest hopes; but were he to act
otherwise, and at once violate his oath, and forego his revenge, he
should despise himself, and deserve her contempt. He implored her to
forget their ill-fated attachment, for his own misery would be
endurable only when he knew that he had not compromised her happiness.

Scarcely had he dispatched these letters, written under a state of
excitement almost amounting to frenzy, when Herrera, in pursuance of a
previously formed plan, and as if to stifle the regrets which a forced
and painful determination occasioned him, hastened to join as a
volunteer the nearest Christino column. It was one commanded by
General Lorenzo, then operating against Santos Ladron and the
Navarrese Carlists. In several skirmishes Herrera signalized himself
by the intrepidity and fury with which he fough