tter is here to bind us,
Love and memory lose their spell;
Friends that we have left behind us,
Prisoners of content,--farewell!'"

"You are a wizard, Luis, and I have had a sail with you. Now, come with
us, and show those dandy soldiers from the Alamo how to dance."

"Pardon! I have not yet ceased to cross myself at the affront of this
morning. And the Senora Valdez is in the same mind as her husband. I
should be received by her like a dog at mass. I am going to-morrow to
the American colony on the Colorado."

"Be careful, Luis. These Austin colonists are giving great
trouble--there have been whispers of very strong measures. I speak as a
friend."

"My heart to yours! But let me tell you this about the Americans--their
drum is in the hands of one who knows how to beat it."

"As a matter of hearsay, are you aware that three detachments of troops
are on their way from Mexico?"

"For Texas?"

"For Texas."

"What are three detachments? Can a few thousand men put Texas under lock
and key? I assure you not, Senor; but now I must say adieu!"

He took the doctor's hand, and, as he held it, turned his luminous face
and splendid eyes upon Antonia. A sympathetic smile brightened her own
face like a flame. Then he went silently away, and Antonia watched him
disappear among the shrubbery.

"Come, Antonia! I am ready. We must not keep the Senora waiting too
long."

"I am ready also, father." Her voice was almost sad, and yet it had a
tone of annoyance in it--"Don Luis is so imprudent," she said. "He is
always in trouble. He is full of enthusiasms; he is as impossible as his
favorite, Don Quixote."

"And I thank God, Antonia, that I can yet feel with him. Woe to the
centuries without Quixotes! Nothing will remain to them but--Sancho
Panzas."

CHAPTER II. ANTONIA AND ISABEL.

"He various changes of the world had known,
And some vicissitudes of human fate,
Still altering, never in a steady state
Good after ill, and after pain delight,
Alternate, like the scenes of day and night."

"Ladies whose bright eyes
Rain influence."

"But who the limits of that power shall trace,
Which a brave people into life can bring,
Or hide at will, for freedom combating
By just revenge inflamed?"

For many years there had never been any doubt in the mind of Robert
Worth as to the ultima