, and faltered.

"Alas!" said she, "my limbs fail me! I can go no farther!"

"Bear up, bear up," replied her companion, cheeringly; "a little
farther, and we shall be safe: look! yonder is Granada, just showing
itself in the valley below us. A little farther, and we shall come to
the main road, and then we shall find plenty of passengers to protect
us."

Inez, encouraged, made fresh efforts to get forward, but her weary
limbs were unequal to the eagerness of her mind; her mouth and throat
were parched by agony and terror: she gasped for breath, and leaned
for support against a rock. "It is all in vain!" exclaimed she; "I
feel as though I should faint."

"Lean on me," said the other; "let us get into the shelter of yon
thicket, that will conceal us from the view; I hear the sound of
water, which will refresh you."

With much difficulty they reached the thicket, which overhung a small
mountain-stream, just where its sparkling waters leaped over the rock
and fell into a natural basin. Here Inez sank upon the ground,
exhausted. Her companion brought water in the palms of her hands, and
bathed her pallid temples. The cooling drops revived her; she was
enabled to get to the margin of the stream, and drink of its crystal
current; then, reclining her head on the bosom of her deliverer, she
was first enabled to murmur forth her heartfelt gratitude.

"Alas!" said the other, "I deserve no thanks; I deserve not the good
opinion you express. In me you behold a victim of Don Ambrosio's arts.
In early years he seduced me from the cottage of my parents: look! at
the foot of yonder blue mountain, in the distance, lies my native
village: but it is no longer a home for me. From thence he lured me,
when I was too young for reflection; he educated me, taught me various
accomplishments, made me sensible to love, to splendour, to
refinement; then, having grown weary of me, he neglected me, and cast
me upon the world. Happily the accomplishments he taught me have kept
me from utter want; and the love with which he inspired me has kept me
from farther degradation. Yes! I confess my weakness; all his perfidy
and wrongs cannot efface him from my heart. I have been brought up to
love him; I have no other idol: I know him to be base, yet I cannot
help adoring him. I am content to mingle among the hireling throng
that administer to his amusements, that I may still hover about him,
and linger in those halls where I once reigned mistress. What