he second time she came into the room.

"Are you sure, Pepita?"

It was the Countess who put the question.

"Quite sure, your ladyship. I've been all around the place, to the
stable, grounds, everywhere, and couldn't hear or see anything of him.
Oh! he's gone, and so glad I am. They'd have made him prisoner too.
Thanks to the Blessed Virgin, they haven't."

The thanksgiving was for Jose, and however fervent on Pepita's part, it
was as fervently responded to by the others, the Condesa seeming more
especially pleased at the intelligence.

She better understood its importance, for, but the hour before, she had
given him conditional instructions, and hoped he might be now in the act
of carrying them out.

Upheld by this hope, which the Dona Luisa, when told of it, shared with
her, they less irksomely passed the hours.

But at length, alas! it, too, was near being given up, as the night grew
later, nearing midnight. Then the little _mertiza_ came in charged with
new intelligence; not so startling, since they anticipated it. The
_Dueno_ had got home, and, as themselves, was under arrest. Astounded
by what he had learned on return, and angrily protesting, the soldiers
had rudely seized hold of him, even refusing him permission to speak
with his daughter.

She had harboured a belief that all might be well on the coming home of
her father. The last plank was shattered now. From the chair of the
cabinet minister Don Ignacio Valverde would step direct into the cell of
a prison! Nothing uncommon in the political history of Mexico--only one
of its "cosas."

On their feet they were now, and had come close to the door, which was
held slightly open by Pepita. There they stood listening to what was
going on outside. The sounds of revelry lately proceeding from the
_sala grande_ were no more heard. Instead, calls and words of command
in the courtyard, with a bustle of preparation. Through the
trellis-work they could see a carriage with horses attached,
distinguishable as their own. It was the same which had just brought
Don Ignacio from the city. But the heads of the _frisones_ were turned
outward, as if it was intended to take them back. Men on horseback were
moving around it; soldiers, as could be seen by their armour gleaming in
the moonlight.

Those regarding their movements were not left long in suspense as to
their meaning. One of the soldiers on foot, whose sleeve chevrons
proclaimed him a corporal, st