, the face of a saint, pale yet not
passionless, of the heaven heavenly, yet with just enough of earthly
feeling in her eyes to attest that she was a very woman after all.

"Go not," he cried, catching her again and drawing her back.

Gone were his resolutions, shattered was his determination, broken was
his resistance. She was here before him, at all hazards he would detain
her. They were alone together, almost for the first time in their lives.
It was night, the balmy wind blew softly, the moonlight enveloped them.
Such an opportunity would never come again. It was madness. It was
fatal. No matter. She should not go now.

"I heard you," she murmured, swaying toward him. "I heard--you seemed to
be--suffering. I do not know why--something drew me on. You
whispered--you were speaking--I--listened. I came nearer. Was your heart
breaking, too? Despise me!"

She put her face in her hands. It was a confession she made. A wave of
shame swept over her.

"Despise you? Ah, God help me, I love you!"

And this time he gathered her in his arms, and drew her back into the
deeper shadow.

"And you were so cold," she whispered. "I looked at you. I begged you
with all my soul before I signed. You did nothing, nothing! O Mother of
God, is there no help?"

"Dost love me?"

"With all my soul," she answered.

"Poor----"

"Nay----"

"Obscure----"

"Nay----"

"Lowly--perhaps ignobly born----"

"Nay, love, these are mere words to me. Rich or poor, high or low, noble
or ignoble, thou only hast my heart. It beats and throbs only for thee.
I have thought upon thee, dreamed upon thee, loved thee. I can not marry
Don Felipe. I, too, have the pride of the de Lara's. My father shall
find it. I signed that contract under duress. You would do nothing. Oh,
Alvarado, Alvarado, wilt thou stand by and let me be taken into the arms
of another? But no, I shall die before that happens."

"Donna Mercedes," cried the unhappy young man, "I love thee, I adore
thee, I worship thee with all my heart and soul! Were it not a coward's
act I would have plunged my dagger into my breast ere I witnessed that
betrothal to-night."

"Thou shouldst first have sheathed it in mine," she whispered. "But
could'st find no better use for thy weapon than that?"

"Would you have me kill Don Felipe?"

"No, no, but defend me with it. There are hidden recesses in the
mountains. Your soldiers worship you. Take me away, away into the
undiscovered countries to t