with the 'final posture,' like the
Romans, and I was afraid of perishing here like a rat in a sewer.... And
nevertheless, I couldn't help laughing at my aunt and our poor servants
to see the fright they were in!... Now the water is no longer rising,
and the house is strong. Our only trouble is that we're cut off, and
I'm waiting for daylight to come so that we can see where we are. The
sight of all this country changed into a lake must be very beautiful,
isn't it, Rafael?"

"You've probably seen far more interesting things," the young man
replied.

"I don't deny that; but I'm always most impressed by the sensation of
the moment."

And she fell silent, showing by her sudden seriousness the vexation that
his distant allusion to her past had caused.

For some moments neither of them spoke; and it was Leonora who finally
broke the silence.

"The truth is, if the water had gone on rising, we would have owed our
lives to you.... Let's see, now, frankly: why did you come? What kind
inspiration made you think of me. You hardly know me!"

Rafael blushed with embarrassment, and trembled from head to foot, as if
she had asked him for a mortal confession. He was on the point of
uttering the great truth, baring in one great explosion all his thoughts
and dreams and dreads of past days. But he restrained himself and
grasped wildly for an answer.

"My enthusiasm for the artist," he replied timidly. "I admire your
talent very much."

Leonora burst into a noisy laugh.

"But you don't know me! You've never heard me sing!... What do you know
about my "talent," as they call it? If it weren't for that chatterbox of
a Cupido, Alcira would never dream that I am a singer and that I'm
somewhat well-known--except in my own country."

Rafael was crushed by the reply; he did not dare protest.

"Come, Rafael," the woman continued affectionately, "don't be a child
and try to pass off the fibs boys use to deceive mama with. I know why
you came here. Do you imagine you haven't been seen from this very
balcony hovering about here every afternoon, lurking in the road like a
spy? You are discovered, sir."

The shy Rafael thought the balcony was collapsing underneath his feet.
He shivered in abject terror, drew the fur cloak tighter around him,
without knowing what he was about, and shook his head in energetic
denial.

"So it's not true, you fraud?" she said, with comic indignation. "You
deny that since we met up at the Hermitage you ha