at the
saints heard you."

"Marcos," he explained, "wrote to ask me for a few men to take your
carriage through the danger zone. So I took the liberty of riding with
them myself. I am the watch-dog, Senorita, at the gate of your valley.
You are safe enough once you are within the valley of the Wolf."

They talked together until Sarrion rode forward to announce that all were
ready to depart, while Cousin Peligros sat with pinched lips and
disapproving face. She took an early opportunity of mentioning that
ladies should not talk to gentlemen with such familiarity and freedom;
that, above all, a smile was sufficient acknowledgment for any jest
except those made by the very aged, when to laugh was a sign of respect.
For Cousin Peligros had been brought up in a school of manners now
fortunately extinct.

"He is Marcos' friend," explained Juanita. "Besides, he is a nice person.
I know a nice person when I see one," she concluded, with a friendly nod
towards the watch-dog of the valley of the Wolf, who was talking in the
shade of the trees with Marcos.

The men rode together in advance of the carriages and the luggage carts.
The journey was uneventful, and the sun was setting in a cloudless west
when the mouth of the valley was reached. It was Cousin Peligros' happy
lot to consider herself the centre of any party and the pivot upon which
social events must turn. She bowed graciously to Captain Zeneta when he
came forward to take his leave.

"It was most considerate of Marcos," she said to Juanita in his hearing,
"to provide this escort. He no doubt divined that, accustomed as I am to
living in Madrid, I might have been nervous in these remote places."

Juanita was tired. They were near their journey's end. She did not take
the trouble to explain the situation to Cousin Peligros. There are some
fools whom the world allows to continue in their folly because it is less
trouble. Marcos and Sarrion were riding together now in silence. From
time to time a peasant waiting at the roadside came forward to exchange a
few words with one or the other. The road ascended sharply now, and the
pace was slow. The regular tramp of the horses, the quiet evening hour,
the fatigue of the journey were conducive to contemplation and silence.

When Marcos helped Cousin Peligros and Juanita to descend from the
high-swung traveling carriage, Juanita was too tired to notice one or two
innovations. When, as a schoolgirl, she had spent her holidays