hind the
party, and whispered hoarsely in Mrs. Wilders's ear--

"_Dios mio! Cypriana! Es usted?_" (Gracious Heavens! Cyprienne! Is it
you?)

Mrs. Wilders stopped and looked round. At that moment, too, young
Wilders turned angrily on the man--a black-muzzled, Spanish-looking
fellow, dressed in a suit of coarse brown cloth, short jacket,
knee-breeches, and leather gaiters--the dress, in fact, of a
well-to-do Spanish peasant--and said, sharply, "How dare you speak to
this lady? What did he say to you, Mrs. Wilders--anything rude?"

Mrs. Wilders had recovered herself sufficiently to reply in an
unconcerned tone--

"I did not understand his jargon; but it does not matter in the least;
don't make any fuss, I beg."

The incident had been unobserved by any but these two, and it must
have been speedily forgotten by young Wilders, for he said nothing
more. But Mrs. Wilders, as they passed on, and for the rest of their
walk to the Convent, as the Governor's residence is still styled,
looked anxiously behind to see if the man who had claimed acquaintance
with her was still in sight.

Yes; he was following her. What did he mean?

Half an hour later, when the Wilders had made their bow to the
Governor, and it had been arranged that the general should attend an
inspection of troops upon the North Front, Mrs. Wilders declined to
accept the seat in the carriage offered her. She preferred, she said,
to explore the quaint old town. Mr. Wilders and one of the Governor's
aides-de-camps eagerly volunteered to escort, but she declined.

"Many thanks, but I'd rather go alone. I shall be more independent."

"You'll lose your way; or be arrested by the garrison police and taken
before the town major as a suspicious character, loitering too near
the fortifications," said the Governor, who thought it a capital joke.

"No one will interfere with me, I think," she replied, quietly. "I am
quite able to take care of myself."

She looked it just then, with her firm-set lips and flashing eyes.

"Mrs. Wilders will have her own way," said her husband. "It's best to
give in to her. That's what I've found," he added, with a laugh, in
which all joined.

When the horses were brought out for the parade, Mrs. Wilders, still
persisting in her intention of walking alone, said, gaily--

"Well, gentlemen, while you are playing at soldiers I shall go off on
my own devices. If I get tired, Bill, I shall go back to the yacht."

And with this Mrs. Wi