s quite calm again.

"Had you quarrelled with your parents?" she asked, with a kind of polite
interest.

"I have no parents," said Derrick; "they are dead."

She was silent for a moment; then she said:

"That is sad; but death is the common lot." There was another pause;
then she said: "Don Jose tells me that you are seeking employment, but
that he could find you none. Will you tell me what it is that you have
done, the work you were accustomed to do?"

"Well, I've been all sorts of things," said Derrick, reluctantly enough.
"By profession I'm an engineer, I suppose; but----" He paused. "Well, I
had a stroke of bad luck in England, and I had to leave it and chuck up
my profession. Since then I've been a jack-of-all-trades."

"What you have told me has interested me," Donna Elvira said. "Besides,"
she added, "I have been in England--I had friends there. It is because
of this that I desire to help you, senor. You say that you are an
engineer. I think there should be work for you here on the _estancia_;
there is machinery." Derrick sat up with a sudden lightening of the
heart. "We have to send to a distance, sometimes as far as Buenos Ayres,
when we need repairs. Do you think you can undertake this work?
Besides--you are well educated, of course, as is the English fashion for
gentlemen?"

"I'm afraid not," said Derrick. "Unfortunately, it is not the fashion to
give the English gentleman a good education. The other fellows at the
Board school get that; but I can read and write, and keep accounts--at
least, I think so," he added.

"It is sufficient," said Donna Elvira. "Consider yourself engaged,
senor. As to the salary----"

"Pardon!" interjected Derrick, with a grin. "Wouldn't it be better to
see whether I'm worth anything more than my board and lodging before we
speak of salary, senora?"

"We will consider," rejoined the Donna Elvira; then she looked straight
before her again, with an impassive countenance, with so vacant a gaze
that Derrick felt that she had forgotten him once more. While he was
waiting to be further addressed or dismissed, he studied the pale and
still beautiful face. He was so lost in conjecturing the past of this
stately lady, living in solitude in this vast house, mistress of a great
estate and enormous wealth, that he almost started when, waking from her
reverie, she said:--

"I will talk with you further, senor. Meanwhile, will you go to my
major-domo?"

Derrick bowed and turned awa