she
exclaimed; "surely he did not tell you!"

"I saw you."

There was a moment's silence; when next she spoke her voice was lower
and more musical.

"Senorita, I come as your friend; do you believe me?"

"I want to believe you," Kate answered, frankly, "but I can tell better
whether I do or not when I know more of you and of your errands here."

For answer the woman, with a sudden swift movement, threw back her veil,
revealing a face of unusual beauty,--oval in contour, of a rich olive
tint, with waving masses of jet-black hair, framing a low, broad
forehead. But her eyes were what drew Kate's attention: large, lustrous,
but dark and unfathomable as night, yet with a look in them of dumb,
agonizing appeal. The two women formed a striking contrast as they
stood face to face; they seemed to impersonate Hope and Despair.

"Senorita," she said, in a low, passionless voice, "I am Senor Walcott's
wife."

Kate's very soul seemed to recoil at the words, but she did not start or
shrink.

"I have the certificate of our marriage here," she continued, producing
a paper, "signed by the holy father who united us."

Kate waved it back. "I do not wish to see it, nor do I doubt your word,"
she replied, gently; "I understand now why you first came to this house.
What brings you here to-night?"

"I come to warn you that your father is in danger."

"My father!" Kate exclaimed, quickly, her whole manner changed. "Where?
How?"

"Senor Walcott has an engagement with him at eight o'clock at their
offices, and he means to do him harm, I know not just what; but he is
angry with him, I know not why, and he is a dangerous man when he is
angry."

Kate touched a bell to summon a servant. "I will go to him at once;
but," she added, looking keenly into the woman's face, "how do you know
of this? How did you learn it? Did he tell you?"

The other shook her head with a significant gesture. "He tells me
nothing; he tells no one but Tony, and Tony tells me nothing; but I saw
them talking together to-night, and he was very angry. I overheard some
words. I heard him say he would see your father to-night and make him
sorry he had not done as he agreed, and he showed Tony a little stiletto
which he carries with him, and then he laughed."

Kate shuddered slightly. "Who is Tony?" she asked.

The woman smiled with another gesture. "Tony is--Tony; that is all I
know. He and my husband know each other."

A servant appeared; Kate ordered her