she give her confidence,
except to young Pedro Mantanez, a fine-looking boatman, who plied
between the Punta and Moro Castle, on the opposite side of the harbor.

Pedro was a manly and courageous young fellow, rather above his class in
intelligence, appearance and associations, and pulled his oars with a
strong arm and light heart, and loved the beautiful Miralda with an
ardor romantic in its fidelity and truth. He was a sort of leader among
the boatmen of the harbor for reason of his superior cultivation and
intelligence, and his quick-witted sagacity was often turned for the
benefit of his comrades. Many were the noble deeds he had done in and
about the harbor since a boy, for he had followed his calling of a
waterman from boyhood, as his fathers had done before him. Miralda in
turn ardently loved Pedro; and, when he came at night and sat in the
back part of her little shop, she had always a neat and fragrant cigar
for his lips. Now and then, when she could steal away from her shop on
some holiday, Pedro would hoist a tiny sail in the prow of his boat, and
securing the little stern awning over Miralda's head, would steer out
into the gulf, and coast along the romantic shore.

There was a famous roue, well known at this time in Havana, named Count
Almonte, who had frequently visited Miralda's shop, and conceived quite
a passion for the girl, and, indeed, he had grown to be one of her most
liberal customers. With a cunning shrewdness and knowledge of human
nature, the count besieged the heart of his intended victim without
appearing to do so, and carried on his plan of operations for many weeks
before the innocent girl even suspected his possessing a partiality for
her, until one day she was surprised by a present from him of so rare
and costly a nature as to lead her to suspect the donor's intentions at
once, and to promptly decline the offered gift. Undismayed by this,
still the count continued his profuse patronage in a way to which
Miralda could find no plausible pretext of complaint.

At last, seizing upon what he considered a favorable moment, Count
Almonte declared his passion to Miralda, besought her to come and be the
mistress of his broad and rich estates at Cerito, near the city, and
offered all the promises of wealth, favor and fortune; but in vain. The
pure-minded girl scorned his offer, and bade him never more to insult
her by visiting her shop. Abashed but not confounded, the count retired,
but only to