uldn't think of--

"You will not think of disappointing us," broke in the dear brown fellow.
"Could you have imagined that our only reason is to keep you out of
danger? No. We're not so unselfish. We want you. Partings will come soon
enough. We must have you with us, under our roof, at our table, as long as
we can. Now you understand, you will say 'yes.' "

"In my country," said Dick, as a broad hint to me, "when we tell people we
want them to visit us, we mean it; and I guess Colonel O'Donnel and Miss
O'Donnel are the same sort."

Of course I wanted to say yes; and, of course, after this, I did say yes
without further parleying.

"Now begins the most critical time in this adventure of yours. Don Ramon,"
the Cherub went on. "You see, as our place is only five miles outside
Seville, we know many people; and though Carmona is seldom there with his
mother, he certainly has acquaintances, and some of them may be ours too.
You have travelled since Burgos as my son, though you wore his uniform
only for two days; but you may be sure Carmona has been looking forward to
shaking you off, once and for all, if you should venture to Seville to see
the show of _Semana Santa_ as other tourists see it."

"He perhaps thinks that, because of our promise--which we've kept--he's
shaken Ramon off already," said Dick.

"He knows better. The trick answered for a few hours; but his car broke
down, and he had to accept our help. He said then that fate was against
him; I heard it; and Carmona's a man to be actually superstitious about
you, now. So far, he's kept the little senorita out of touch with you, but
that's nearly all he has accomplished."

"Thanks to you both," I cut in. "If it hadn't been for your help, I should
have been 'pinched,' and hustled over the border long ago. I see that now;
and though I should have come back and begun the chase again somehow, it
would have been a thousand times more difficult."

"No use bothering about what _might_ have happened," laughed Pilar. "Let's
think of what did happen--and what will."

"Nevertheless," said I, "the thought's often in my mind; what if we had
missed Colonel and Miss O'Donnel at Burgos?"

Dick chuckled; and when Pilar wanted to know what amused him, asked my
permission to tell. I gave him leave; and with a memory for detail which I
could have spared, to say nothing of an attempt at mimicry, he repeated,
word for word, my objections to meeting the Irish friends of Angele de la