ddy attended Mass. But he was not entirely
engrossed in his devotions. Starting from the front entrance of the
church he moved slowly nearer and nearer to the altar, and, slipping
from the shelter of one pillar to another, anxiously scanned the rows
of kneeling women. He found the mantilla a baffling disguise, and as
each woman present in the church wore one, and as the hair of each was
black, and as the back of the head of one woman is very much like that
of another, it was not until the worshippers had turned to leave that
he discovered the Senorita Inez Rojas. In her black satin dress, with
her face wreathed by the black lace mantilla, Roddy thought he had
never seen her look more beautiful.

After her explicit commands that he should not attempt to see her
again he was most anxious she should not learn how soon he had
disobeyed her; and that she was walking with her sister and mother
made it still more necessary that he should remain unnoticed.

But in his eagerness and delight in the sight of her he leaned far
forward. Inez, at that instant raising her eyes, saw him. Of the two
Roddy was the more concerned. The girl made no sign of recognition,
but the next moment, with an exclamation, she suddenly unclasped her
hands, and, as though to show they were empty, held them toward her
mother and sister. Leaving them, she returned hurriedly toward the
altar. Senora Rojas and the sister continued on their way toward the
door, exchanging greetings with the women of their acquaintance, whom,
after an absence of two years, they now met for the first time. Seeing
them thus engaged Inez paused and, turning, looked directly at Roddy.
Her glance was not forbidding, and Roddy, who needed but little
encouragement, hastened to follow. The church was very dark. The
sunlight came only through the lifted curtains at the farthest
entrance, and the acolytes were already extinguishing the candles
that had illuminated the altar. As Inez, in the centre of the church,
picked her way among the scattered praying-chairs, Roddy, in the side
aisle and hidden by the pillars, kept pace with her.

Directly in front of the altar Inez stooped, and, after picking up a
fan and a prayer-book, stood irresolutely looking about her. Roddy
cautiously emerged from the side aisle and from behind the last of the
long row of pillars. Inez came quickly toward him. The last of the
acolytes to leave the altar, in their haste to depart, stumbled and
tripped past