so long silent
that Teodosia supposed he was asleep and had not heard a word she had
been saying. To satisfy herself of this, she said, "Are you asleep,
senor? No wonder if you are; for a mournful tale poured into an
unimpassioned ear is more likely to induce drowsiness than pity."

"I am not asleep," replied the cavalier; "on the contrary, I am so
thoroughly awake, and feel so much for your calamity, that I know not if
your own anguish exceeds mine. For this reason I will not only give you
the advice you ask, but my personal aid to the utmost of my powers; for
though the manner in which you have told your tale proves that you are
gifted with no ordinary intelligence, and therefore that you have been
your own betrayer, and owe your sorrow to a perverted will rather than
to the seductions of Marco Antonio, nevertheless I would fain see your
excuse in your youth and your inexperience of the wily arts of men.
Compose yourself, senora, and sleep if you can during the short
remainder of the night. When daylight comes we will consult together,
and see what means may be devised for helping you out of your
affliction."

Teodosia thanked him warmly, and tried to keep still for a while in
order that the cavalier might sleep; but he could not close an eye; on
the contrary he began to toss himself about in the bed, and to heave
such deep sighs that Teodosia was constrained to ask him what was the
matter? was he suffering in any way, and could she do anything for his
relief?

"Though you are yourself the cause of my distress, senora," he replied,
"you are not the person who can relieve it, for if you were I should not
feel it."

Teodosia could not understand the drift of this perplexed reply; she
suspected, however, that he was under the influence of some amorous
passion, and even that she herself might be the object of it; for it
might well be that the fact of his being alone with one he knew to be a
woman, at that dead hour of the night, and in the same bed-room, should
have awakened in him some bad thoughts. Alarmed at the idea, she hastily
put on her clothes without noise, buckled on her sword and dagger, and
sat down on the bed to wait for daylight, which did not long delay to
appear through the many openings there were in the sides of the room, as
usual in inn-chambers. The cavalier on his part, had made ready exactly
as Teodosia had done; and he no sooner perceived the first rays of
light, than he started up from his bed