not to leave the garden, however, and for one hour's
walk only, Senorita; certainly there is time for no more."

"I will take care of Isabel; no harm shall come to her. You may keep
your eyes shut for one hour, Rachela, and you may shut your ears also,
and put your feet on the couch and let them rest. I will watch Isabel
carefully, be sure of that."

"The child is very clever, and she has a lover already, I fear. Keep
your eyes on the myrtle hedge that skirts the road. I have to say
this--it is not for nothing she wants to walk with you this afternoon.
She would be better fast asleep."

In a few moments the kerchief and the bow were safely folded in the
capacious pocket of Rachela's apron, and Isabel and Antonia were softly
treading the shady walk between the myrtle hedges. Rachela's eyes were
apparently fast closed when the girls pased{sic} her, but she did not
fail to notice how charmingly Isabel had dressed herself. She wore, it
is true, her Spanish costume; but she had red roses at her breast, and
her white lace mantilla over her head.

"Ah! she is a clever little thing!" Rachela muttered. "She knows that
she is irresistible in her Castilian dress. Bah! those French frocks are
enough to drive a man a mile away. I can almost forgive her now. Had she
worn the French frock I would not have forgiven her. I would never have
yielded again, no, not even if the Senorita Antonia should offer me her
scarlet Indian shawl worked in gold. I was always a fool--Holy Mother
forgive me! Well, then; I used to have my own lovers--plenty of
them--handsome young arrieros and rancheros: there was Tadeo, a valento
of the first class: and Buffa--and--well, I will sleep; they do not
remember me, I dare say; and I have forgotten their names."

In the mean time the sisters sat down beneath a great fig-tree. No
sunshine, no shower, could penetrate its thick foliage. The wide space
beneath the spreading branches was a little parlor, cool and sweet,
and full of soft, green lights, and the earthy smell of turf, and the
wandering scents of the garden.

Isabel's eyes shone with an incomparable light. She was pale, but
exquisitely beautiful, and even her hands and feet expressed the idea of
expectation. Antonia had a piece of needlework in her hand. She affected
the calmness she did not feel, for her heart was trembling for the
tender little heart beating with so much love and anxiety beside her.

But Isabel's divination, however arrived at,