propitiate the old fellow who shall perform the affair and
withhold his jaw. A little chin-music from your oncle 'Arry shall
finish it! Remain tranquil and forget not a ring! One does not always,
in the agony and dissatisfaction of the moment, a ring remember. I
shall bring two in the pocket of my dress."

If I did not entirely participate in this roseate view, it may have
been because Enriquez, although a few years my senior, was much
younger-looking, and with his demure deviltry of eye and his upper lip
close shaven for this occasion, he suggested a depraved acolyte rather
than a responsible member of a family. Consuelo had also confided to me
that her father--possibly owing to some rumors of our previous
escapade--had forbidden any further excursions with me alone. The
innocent man did not know that Chu Chu had forbidden it also, and that
even on this momentous occasion both Enriquez and myself were obliged
to ride in opposite fields like out-flankers. But we nevertheless felt
the full guilt of disobedience added to our desperate enterprise.
Meanwhile, although pressed for time and subject to discovery at any
moment, I managed at certain points of the road to dismount and walk
beside Chu Chu (who did not seem to recognize me on foot), holding
Consuelo's hand in my own, with the discreet Enriquez leading my horse
in the distant field. I retain a very vivid picture of that walk--the
ascent of a gentle slope towards a prospect as yet unknown but full of
glorious possibilities; the tender dropping light of an autumn sky,
slightly filmed with the promise of the future rains, like foreshadowed
tears, and the half-frightened, half-serious talk into which Consuelo
and I had insensibly fallen.

And then, I don't know how it happened, but as we reached the summit
Chu Chu suddenly reared, wheeled, and the next moment was flying back
along the road we had just traveled, at the top of her speed! It might
have been that, after her abstracted fashion, she only at that moment
detected my presence; but so sudden and complete was her evolution that
before I could regain my horse from the astonished Enriquez she was
already a quarter of a mile on the homeward stretch, with the frantic
Consuelo pulling hopelessly at the bridle.

We started in pursuit. But a horrible despair seized us. To attempt to
overtake her, even to follow at the same rate of speed would only
excite Chu Chu and endanger Consuelo's life. There was absolutely no
he