y countenance for a long
minute.

"'Tis absurd," she said then, and pushed me aside. "'Tis impossible! And
yet----a new face, a new face and passably pretty. Oh, my God, these
men! are they worth one real heart pang? Tell me," she cried, fiercely,
and shook me roughly by the shoulder, "has Melinza made love to you
already?"

"Never, madame, never!" I answered quickly, frightened by her vehemence.
"Indeed, their quarrel did not concern me. 'Twas about two lads that had
a wrestling-match upon the galley. And although they were both angered
at the time, there may be no ill feeling between them now. I was foolish
to speak of it. Forget my imprudence, I pray you!"

But her face remained thoughtful. "Tell me the whole story," she said;
and when I had done so she was silent.

I sat and watched her anxiously. She was a beautiful woman, with a
wealth of dark hair, a richly tinted cheek, glorious eyes, and a small,
soft, red-lipped, passionate mouth--folded close, at that moment, in a
scornful curve.

Suddenly she rose and touched a bell. A young negress answered the
summons. Dona Orosia spoke a few rapid words to her in Spanish, then
turned coldly to me.

"Go with her; she will show you to your apartment, and your woman will
attend you there later on. You must be too weary to-night to join us at
a formal meal, and your wardrobe must be somewhat in need of
replenishing. To-morrow you shall have whatever you require. I bid you
goodnight!"--and she dismissed me with a haughty gesture of her white
hand.

The chamber that had been assigned to me--which I was glad to share with
the good Dame Barbara--was long and narrow. There was a window at one
end that gave upon the sea; and through the heavy barred grating, set
strongly in the thick casement, I could look out upon the low sea-wall,
and, beyond that, at the smooth bosom of the dreaming ocean, heaving
softly in the quiet starlight, as though such a sorrow lay hidden in its
deep heart as troubled even its sleep with sighs.

If I pressed my face close against the bars I could see, to the left of
me, the ramparts of the castle, where my dear love was. The slow tears
rose in my eyes as I thought that this night the same roof would not
shelter us, nor would there be the same swaying deck beneath our feet.

While we had been together no very real sense of danger had oppressed
me; but from the first hour of our parting my heart grew heavier with
forebodings of the evil and sorr