fierce laugh and then added bitterly,--"And so I
came to marry my husband, the Governor of San Augustin!"

"The other was Don Pedro?"

"Has thy baby wit compassed that much? Yes, the other was Melinza."

"But if you once loved him why should there be hate between you now?"

"Why? thou little fool! Why?"--she put out one hand and drew me closer,
so that she could look deep into my eyes. "Why does a woman ever hate a
man? Canst tell me that?"

We gazed at each other so until I saw--I scarce know what I saw! My head
swam, and of a sudden it came over me that when the angels fell from
heaven there must have been an awful beauty in their eyes!

CHAPTER XV.

I awoke this morning with a sense of horror haunting me,--and then I
recalled the scene of yesterday and the dumb appeal in the eyes of the
dying hound. The story the Spanish woman had told me of her own past
pleaded nothing in excuse. Hatred and cruelty seemed strange fruit for
love to bear.

I thought of my own ill fortunes, and I said within me: True Love sits
at the door of the heart to guard it from all evil passions. Loss and
Pain may enter in, and Sorrow bear them company; but Revenge and
Cruelty, Untruth, and all their evil kin, must hide their shamed faces
and pass by!

Secure in the thought of the pure affection that reigned in my own
bosom, I went forth and met Temptation, and straightway fell from the
high path in which I believed my feet to be so surely fixed!

Dona Orosia seemed to be in a strangely gentle mood.

"Child, how pale thy face is! Didst thou not lie awake all night? Deny
it not, 'tis writ most plainly in the dark shadows round those great
blue eyes. Come, rest here beside me"--and she drew me down upon the
couch and slipped a soft pillow under my head.

I was fairly dumfounded at this unwonted courtesy, and could find no
words to meet it with. But she appeared unconscious of my silence and
continued speaking.

"'Tis the thought of the English lover that robs thee of sleep,
Margarita mia! Thou wouldst give thy very life to procure his freedom;
is it not so? Would any task be too hard for thee with this end in
view?"

I could not answer; I clasped my hands and looked at her in silence.

"I thought as much," she said, smiling, and laid a gentle finger on my
cheek.

"Oh, senora, you will aid me to save him! You will plead with the
Governor--you will set him free?"

She drew back coldly. "You ask too much. I have told yo