the next moment footsteps--apparently of
several people--were heard ascending the front steps, crossing the wide
gallery running along the front of the house, and entering the hall by
way of the front door, which stood open day and night, except in bad
weather. Then a strong voice pealed out, in Spanish--and methought
there was a note of panic in it--

"Hola, there! Don Luis--Don Luis, where are you, man? Arise, I pray
you, and at once. I have momentous news for you."

"Who is it? What is it?" I heard Don Luis exclaim, and then came the
creak of the bedstead in the adjoining room as the good man leapt from
it; and I heard him busy with the flint and steel, endeavouring to
obtain a light.

"It is I--de Mendouca," answered the strange voice, "I and my family.
The negroes from the mountains are out again, and, being warned that
they were making for Montpelier, I abandoned the place, took horse, and
came on here to warn you."

"_Ave Maria_!" Don Luis exclaimed, as he seemed to be scrambling into
his clothes. "The negroes out again! I heard that they were showing
signs of unrest. I will be with you in a moment. Nay, do not be
alarmed, _carissima_, the danger is certainly not immediate; you will
have ample time to rise and dress at your leisure."

"Oho!" thought I. "Danger, eh? It is time for me to be making a
muster." I therefore rolled out of bed and, without waiting to strike a
light, felt for my clothes, scrambled into them, and made my way to the
entrance hall just as Don Luis, having joined his unexpected visitors,
had succeeded in lighting the great hall lamp.

The strangers were five in number, and I was hurriedly presented to each
of them in turn. First, there was Don Esteban de Mendouca, a tall,
thin, cadaverous-looking man, with intensely dark eyes, a thin crop of
hair, exceedingly long moustache with thin, drooping ends, and a pointed
Vandyke beard, all dark, but beginning to be sprinkled with grey. Then
there was Dona Christina, his wife, a small woman, as dark as her
husband, but with a perfectly preserved complexion--fat, and fifty if a
day. Next there was Don Pedro de Mendouca, Don Esteban's elder son, a
very proud and haughty-looking man of about twenty-seven years of age;
Don Silvio, his brother, some three years younger, and exceedingly like
his elder brother, but with a much more agreeable expression of
countenance; and lastly, but by no means least in attractiveness,
Senorita Eugen