on entered. It was
lying open where he had laid it down. A singular smile flitted over
his face. He lifted it and carried it closer to the light. It was his
college Cicero.

"I was nineteen years old when I marked that passage," he said; "and I
do not think I have ever read it since, until to-night. I was reading it
when Houston came into the room. Is it a message, I wonder?--

"'But when thou considerest everything carefully and thoughtfully; of
all societies none is of more importance, none more dear, than that
which unites us with the commonwealth. Our parents, children, relations
and neighbors are dear, but our fatherland embraces the whole round of
these endearments. In its defence, who would not dare to die, if only he
could assist it?"

CHAPTER IV. THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE.

"O blest be he! O blest be he!
Let him all blessings prove,
Who made the chains, the shining chains,
The holy chains of love!"
--Spanish Ballad.
"If you love a lady bright,
Seek, and you shall find a way
All that love would say, to say
If you watch the occasion right."
--Spanish Ballad.

In the morning Isabel took breakfast with her sister. This was always
a pleasant event to Antonia. She petted Isabel, she waited upon her,
sweetened her chocolate, spread her cakes with honey, and listened to
all her complaints of Tia Rachela. Isabel came gliding in when Antonia
was about half way through the meal. Her scarlet petticoat was gorgeous,
her bodice white as snow, her hair glossy as a bird's wing, but her lips
drooped and trembled, and there was the shadow of tears in her eyes.
Antonia kissed their white fringed lids, held the little form close
in her arms, and fluttered about in that motherly way which Isabel had
learned to demand and enjoy.

"What has grieved you this morning, little dove?"

"It is Tia Rachela, as usual. The cross old woman! She is going to tell
mi madre something. Antonia, you must make her keep her tongue between
her teeth. I promised her to confess to Fray Ignatius, and she said
I must also tell mi madre. I vowed to say twenty Hail Marias and ten
Glorias, and she said 'I ought to go back to the convent.'"

"But what dreadful thing have you been doing, Iza?"

Iza blushed and looked into her chocolate cup, as she answered
slowly: "I gave--a--flower--away. Only a suchil flower, A