ladies, and, as the Senora was making some
polite answer, the door of the room opened quickly, and a man entered
and advanced towards her. Every eye was turned on him, but ere a word
could be uttered he was kneeling at the Senora's side, and had taken her
face in his hands, and was kissing it. In the dim light she knew him at
once, and she cried out: "My Thomas! My Thomas! My dear son! For three
years I have not seen you."

He brought into the room with him an atmosphere of comfort and strength.
Suddenly all fear and anxiety was lifted, and in Antonia's heart the
reaction was so great that she sank into a chair and began to cry like a
child. Her brother held her in his arms and soothed her with the promise
of his presence and help. Then he said, cheerfully:

"Let me have some supper, Antonia. I am as hungry as a lobos wolf; and
run away, Isabel, and help your sister, for I declare to you girls I
shall eat everything in the house."

The homely duty was precisely what was needed to bring every one's
feelings to their normal condition; and Thomas Worth sat chatting with
his mother and Lopez of his father, and Jack, and Dare, and Luis, and
the superficial events of the time, with that pleasant, matter-of-course
manner which is by far the most effectual soother of troubled and
unusual conditions.

In less than half an hour Antonia called her brother, and he and Lopez
entered the dining-room together. They came in as brothers might come,
face answering face with sympathetic change and swiftness; but Antonia
could not but notice the difference in the two men. Lopez was dressed in
a suit of black velvet, trimmed with many small silver buttons. His sash
was of crimson silk. His linen was richly embroidered; and his wide hat
was almost covered with black velvet, and adorned with silver tags. It
was a dress that set off admirably his dark intelligent face.

Thomas Worth wore the usual frontier costume; a dark flannel shirt, a
wide leather belt, buck-skin breeches, and leather boots covering his
knees. He was very like his father in figure and face--darker, perhaps,
and less handsome. But the gentleness and strength of his personal
appearance attracted every one first, and invested all traits with their
own distinctive charm.

And, oh! What a change was there in the the{sic} Senora's room. The
poor lady cried a little for joy, and then went to sleep like a wearied
child. Isabel and Antonia were too happy to sleep. They sat ha