devices are wonderful, but as regards your philosophies, the least said
of them the better. Spiritually, you stand just where you began
centuries ago, and I found that I should be obliged to deny the
existence of God if I continued to revere your institutions.

"Believe me, Senorita, for I speak as one who knows both worlds
intimately, nature's and man's, that the great symphony of nature, the
throb of our Mother Earth, the song of the forest, the voices of the
winds and the waters, the mountains and plains, and the glory of the
stars and the daily life of man in the fields, are grander by far, and
more satisfying and enduring than all the foolish fancies and artificial
harmonies ever created by civilized man."

Her words struck home. For the first time Blanch became thoroughly alive
to the danger of the situation. This passionate child of the South had
changed suddenly to a mature woman, and a chill seized Blanch's heart as
she began to realize her depth and power. Again she was all at sea, and
in a vain effort to say something, she stammered:

"Senorita, you are certainly the strangest person I ever met!"

"Not strange, only different," laughed Chiquita, throwing back her head
and meeting Blanch's full gaze. "Senorita," she continued, "you are
beautiful--more beautiful than any woman I have ever beheld. My heart
stands still with fear and admiration when I look at you, for men are
often foolish enough to love the beautiful women best. I fear this is
going to be a bitter struggle, but let us bear one another no malice in
order that we may both know that she who triumphs is the better woman."
Frank though her words were, they caused Blanch to wince, while a flood
of passion which she could ill conceal dyed her cheeks a deep crimson.

"Life's usually as tragic as it is comic," laughed Chiquita lightly,
slowly moving in the direction of the highroad. "It's strange, isn't
it," she exclaimed, pausing and looking back, "that a queen and a beggar
should dispute the affections of the same man? Such things occur in the
fairy-tales one reads in the books in the old Mission, but seldom in
real life," and she was gone.

IX

Considering an all-night ride over a rough road in a lumbering old
Spanish stagecoach, and the thrilling, harrowing events that succeeded
their arrival at the _Posada_, it is little wonder that Mrs. Forest took
to her bed early in the day on the verge of a nervous collapse, or that
Colonel Van As