of Dona Orosia's contriving, so I thought I would
use it for my own ends.

I vowed to him that I was unhappy--which was true. I protested that I
was sick with longing for freedom--and that, too, was no lie. But to
that I added a whole tissue of falsehood, declaring that I had never
drawn a free breath since I came into the world; that my uncle had been
a tyrant, and the man to whom he had betrothed me was jealous and
exacting; that I had been brought across the seas against my will; and
that I dreaded the hardships of life in this new country. I said I had
no wish to rejoin the English settlers, and I denied, with tears, any
partiality for my dear love. Heaven forgive me! but I professed I loved
Don Pedro better than any man I had ever seen, and I entreated him to
take me away from these barbarous shores.

I had not thought that I could move him, yet, strange to say, the man
seemed touched. I wondered as I listened to him, for I had thought him
all bad, and deemed his passion but a passing fancy. He was speaking now
of Habana, a city of some refinement, where, as his wife, I would enjoy
the companionship of other ladies of my own station.

"I'd never suffer thee to live here, my fairest lady, where yon dark
devil of a woman could vent her spite on thee!" he whispered softly; and
my conscience smote me, for I was playing with a man's heart, of flesh
and blood.

But I bethought me, if there was in truth any good in that heart, I
would dare appeal to it; for I mistrusted that at any time Dona Orosia
would break her promised word.

"Truly, Don Pedro, I would go gladly, for I hate the very sight of these
walls; but--if you love me--I would crave of your graciousness another
boon. Set free the English gentleman who was my promised husband, and
send him, with the other prisoners, back to his friends."

There was no answer, and I feared I had overstepped the mark; but I
dared further.

"Senor de Melinza," I said, "it is true that I come of a race for which
you have no love, and that I hold a creed which you condemn;
nevertheless it must be remembered that we have our own code of
chivalry, and there have lived and died in England as brave knights and
true as even your valiant Cid. I would not have the man I am to wed
guilty of an unknightly act. Therefore be generous. You have been
mutually wounded; but it was in fair duello,"--this I said feigning
ignorance of the coward blow that so nearly reached my dear love's
heart