them, and let
her furnish them with clothes from my wardrobe.
If you do not do all this, Julio, I will have
you killed; so fail not as you value your life.

"MARGARITA DE SAN REAL MONTFORT.

"P.S. The Senor Don Carlos is here with me, and
echoes what I say. We are with the brave
General Sevillo, and if you dare to disobey,
terrible revenge will be taken."

"The ardent patriotism of the senorita," said the General, cautiously,
"is beautiful and inspiring; nevertheless, is it not possible that a
more conciliatory tone might--I would not presume to dictate, but--"

"Oh, Rita!" cried Carlos. "Child, when will you learn that we are no
longer acting plays at home? This is absurd!"

With an impatient movement that might have been Rita's own, he snatched
the paper and tore it in two. "The General cannot be troubled with such
folly!" he said, shortly. "Go to your room, my sister, and repose
yourself after your fatigues."

"By no means!" cried the kindly General, seeing Rita's eyes fill with
tears of anger and mortification. "The senorita has promised to make my
tea for me this evening. Give orders, I pray you, Don Carlos, that
Valdez bring his family to us for the night; the rest can well wait for
to-morrow's light. The senorita is exhausted, I fear, with her manifold
fatigues, and she must have no more anxieties to-day. Behold the tea at
this moment! Senorita Rita, this will be the pleasantest meal I have had
since I left my home, two years ago."

No anger could stand against the General's smile. In a moment Rita was
smiling herself, though the tears still stood in her dark eyes, and one
great drop even rolled down her cheek, to the General's great distress.
Carlos, seeing with contrition his sister's effort at self-control, bent
to kiss her cheek and murmur a few affectionate words. Soon they were
all seated around the little table, Rita and the General on
camp-stools, Carlos on a box. The tea was smoking hot; what did it
matter that the nose of the teapot was broken? Rita had never tasted
anything so delicious as that cup of hot tea, without milk, and with a
morsel of sugar-cane for sweetening. The camp fare, biscuits soaked in
water and fried in bacon fat, was better, she declared, than any food
she had ever tasted in her life. To her delight, a small box of
chocolate still remained in her long-suffering bag; this she presented
to the G