ss distress; but at length she was
able to articulate her fright:

"Listen, mi madre, and may the Holy Lady make you believe me! I have had
a dream. God be blessed that it is not yet true! I will tell you. It was
about Fray Ignatius and our uncle the Marquis de Gonzaga. My good angel
gave it to me; for myself and you all she gave it; and, as my blessed
Lord lives! I will not go to them! SI! I will cut my white throat
first!" and she drew her small hand with a passionate gesture across
it. She had stood up as she began to speak, and the action, added to
her unmistakable terror, her stricken face and air of determination, was
very impressive.

"You have had a dream, my darling?"

"Yes, an awful dream, Antonia! Mary! Mary! Tender Mary, pity us!"

"And you think we should not go to the house of the marquis?"

"Oh, Antonia! I have seen the way. It is black and cold, and full of
fear and pain. No one shall make me take it. I have the stiletto of my
grandmother Flores. I will ask Holy Mary to pardon me, and then--in a
moment--I would be among the people of the other world. That would be
far better than Fray Ignatius and the house of Gonzaga."

The Senora was quite angry at this fresh complication. It was really
incredible what she had to endure. And would Antonia please to tell
her where else they were to go? They had not a friend left in San
Antonio--they did not deserve to have one--and was it to be supposed
that a lady, born noble, could follow the Americans in an ox-wagon?
Antonia might think it preferable to the comfortable house of her
relation; but blessed be the hand of God, which had opened the door of a
respectable shelter to her.

"I will go in the ox-wagon," said Isabel, with a sullen determination;
"but I will not go into my uncle's house. By the saint of my birth I
swear it."

"Mother, listen to Antonia. When one door shuts, God opens another door.
Our own home is yet undisturbed. Do you believe what Fray Ignatius says
of the coming of Santa Anna? I do not. Until he arrives we are safe in
our own home; and when the hour for going away comes, even a little bird
can show us the way to take. And I am certain that my father is planning
for our safety. If Santa Anna was in this city, and behaving with the
brutality which is natural to him, I would not go away until my father
sent the order. Do you think he forgets us? Be not afraid of such a
thing. It cannot take place."

Towards dusk Senor Navarro called,