the Senora had reached her home. She was pleased with
the result of her visit. A little kindness easily imposed upon this
childlike woman, and she trusted in any one who was pleasant to her.

"You may believe me, Antonia," she said; "my uncle was in a temper most
unusual. He kissed my hands. He offered me his protection. That is a
great thing, I assure you. And your father cannot object to our removal
there."

Antonia knew not what answer to make. Her heart misgave her. Why
had Fray Ignatius made the proposal? She was sure it was part of an
arrangement, and not a spontaneous suggestion of the moment. And she was
equally sure that any preconcerted plan, having Fray Ignatius for its
author, must be inimical to them.

Her mother's entry had not awakened Isabel, who lay asleep upon a sofa.
The Senora was a little nettled at the circumstance. "She is a very
child! A visit of such importance! And she is off to the land of
dreams while I am fatiguing myself! I wish indeed that she had more
consideration!" Then Antonia brought her chocolate, and, as she drank
it and smoked her cigarito, she chatted in an almost eager way about the
persons she had seen.

"Going towards the Plaza, I met judge Valdez. I stopped the carriage,
and sent my affections to the Senora. Would you believe it? He answered
me as if his mouth were full of snow. His disagreeable behavior was
exactly copied by the Senora Silvestre and her daughter Esperanza. Dona
Julia and Pilar de Calval did not even perceive me. Santa Maria! there
are none so blind as those who won't see! Oh, indeed! I found the
journey like the way of salvation--full of humiliations. I would have
stopped at the store of the Jew Lavenburg, and ordered many things, but
he turned in when he saw me coming. Once, indeed, he would have put his
hat on the pavement for me to tread upon. But he has heard that your
father has made a rebel of himself, and what can be expected? He knows
when Santa Anna has done with the rebels not one of them will have
anything left for God to rain upon. And there was a great crowd and a
great tumult. I think the whole city had a brain fever."

At this moment Isabel began to moan in her sleep as if her soul was in
some intolerable terror or grief; and ere Antonia could reach her she
sprang into the middle of the room with a shriek that rang through the
house.

It was some minutes before the child could be soothed. She lay in her
mother's arms, sobbing in speechle