e black maid
Gumersinda, and the mule-driver Saturnino, have suffered the penalty of
slave law at the hands of their owner, who has sentenced them both to a
severe flogging. Through the medium of a friend, I receive a note from
Cachita, to inform me that her father is determined to break off my
engagement with his daughter by a more effectual separation than that
which has been already attempted. 'If you love me,' the note concludes,
'have me deposited without delay.'

To 'deposit' a young lady in Cuba, is to have her legally transferred to
the house of a trustworthy relative, or a respectable family. A legal
document for her arrest is presented at the parental house, and if the
young lady be of age, and willing to sign her assent, no opposition on
the part of her parents will avail. If, at the expiration of the
prescribed period, no reason is shown why the deposited damsel should
not follow her inclinations, the lover may release his precious pledge
by marrying her at once.

In accordance with Cachita's desire, I consult the nearest lawyer, from
whom I obtain a formal document, empowering me to deposit Cachita as
soon as she shall have arrived at her town residence. I await this event
with impatience, but days elapse, and the shutters of Don Severiano's
habitation remain closed. I am soon relieved from my anxiety, but am
horrified to learn that Cachita has been removed from the sugar estate,
and consigned to the tender care of nuns in the town convent. As my
legal powers cannot penetrate that sanctum, I am compelled to await the
natural course of events. Cachita is destined to pass six long months
within the convent walls, during which time Don Severiano confidently
hopes that solitary confinement and holy teaching will have a beneficial
effect upon Cachita's mind. Should this prove otherwise, the period for
her incarceration will be prolonged, until the fire of her young
affections shall have been completely quenched.

CHAPTER XXII.

A CUBAN CONVENT.

Without the Walls--'El Torno'--A Convent Letter--Accomplices--A
Powder Plot--With the Nuns--Don Francisco the Dentist.

My creole inamorata has been already immured five long weeks in the
nunnery, expiating there her 'sin' of secret love-making. Nearly five
months must yet elapse before she will be released and restored to her
stern parent Don Severiano: that is, if the nuns' report of her be
favourable; but should the efforts of those estimable