Profound silence reigned throughout the house. The library was situated
in its interior, and was thus inaccessible to the noises of the street.
The only sounds that reached it, confused and vague, were the shaking of
the castanets, the tinkle of the guitar, and the murmur of the voices of
Pepita's servants, who were holding their impromptu dance in the
farm-house.

Antonona opened the door of the library and pushed Don Luis toward it,
at the same time announcing him in these words:

"Here is Don Luis, who has come to take leave of you."

This announcement being made with due ceremony, the discreet Antonona
withdrew, leaving the visitor and her mistress at their ease, and
closing behind her the door of the outer saloon.

* * * * *

At this point in our narrative we can not refrain from calling attention
to the character of authenticity that stamps the present history, and
paying a tribute of admiration to the scrupulous exactness of the person
who composed it. For, were the incidents related in these _paralipomena_
fictitious, as in a novel, there is nor the least doubt but that an
interview so important and of such transcendent interest as that of
Pepita and Don Luis would have been brought about by less vulgar means
than those here employed. Perhaps our hero and heroine, in the course of
some new excursion into the country, might have been surprised by a
sudden and frightful tempest, thus finding themselves obliged to take
refuge in the ruins of some ancient castle or Moorish tower, with the
reputation, of course, of being haunted by ghosts or other supernatural
visitants. Perhaps our hero and heroine might have fallen into the power
of a party of bandits, from whom they would have escaped, thanks to the
presence of mind and courage of Don Luis; taking shelter afterward for
the night--they two alone, and without the possibility of avoiding
it--in a cavern or grotto. Or, finally, perhaps the author would have
arranged the matter in such a way as that Pepita and her vacillating
admirer would have been obliged to make a journey by sea, and, although
at the present day there are neither pirates nor Algerine corsairs, it
is not difficult to invent a good shipwreck, during which Don Luis
could have saved Pepita's life, taking refuge with her afterward on a
desert island, or some other equally romantic and solitary place. Any
one of these devices would more artfully prepare the way for the t