"There she is, sure enough; she is come sooner than
she mentioned in her letter the other day, but she is welcome!"

"Who's come, girl?" said I.

"Who?" she replied; "why, my lady Dona Clementa Bueso, and with her
senor Don Lope Melendez de Almendarez, with two other servants, and
Hortigosa, the duena she took with her."

"Bless me! Run, wench, and open the door for them," Dona Estefania now
exclaimed; "and you, senor, as you love me, don't put yourself out, or
reply for me to anything you may hear said against me."

"Why, who is to say anything to offend you, especially when I am by?
Tell me, who are these people, whose arrival appears to have upset you?"

"I have no time to answer," said Dona Estefania; "only be assured that
whatever takes place here will be all pretended, and bears upon a
certain design which you shall know by and by."

Before I could make any reply to this, in walked Dona Clementa Bueso,
dressed in lustrous green satin, richly laced with gold, a hat with
green, white, and pink feathers, a gold hat-band, and a fine veil
covering half her face. With her entered Don Lope Melendez de Almendarez
in a travelling suit, no less elegant than rich. The duena Hortigosa was
the first who opened her lips, exclaiming, "Saints and angels, what is
this! My lady Dona Clementa's bed occupied, and by a man too! Upon my
faith, the senora Dona Estefania has availed herself of my lady's
friendliness to some purpose!"

"That she has, Hortigosa," replied Dona Clementa; "but I blame myself
for never being on my guard against friends who can only be such when it
is for their own advantage."

To all this Dona Estefania replied: "Pray do not be angry, my lady Dona
Clementa. I assure you there is a mystery in what you see; and when you
are made acquainted with it you will acquit me of all blame."

During this time I had put on my hose and doublet, and Dona Estefania,
taking me by the hand, led me into another room. There she told me that
this friend of hers wanted to play a trick on that Don Lope who was
come with her, and to whom she expected to be married. The trick was to
make him believe that the house and everything in it belonged to
herself. Once married, it would matter little that the truth was
discovered, so confident was the lady in the great love of Don Lope; the
property would then be returned; and who could blame her, or any woman,
for contriving to get an honourable husband, though it were by a little
ar