their
mistress' return, and complimented her on her improved appearance, but
were in reality chiefly engaged in taking stock of Wilhelm while they
did so. Pilar gave the man some direction in Spanish, and then drew
Wilhelm into the salon, which opened into the hall.

"Welcome, a thousand times, to this house," she said, clasping him in
her arms; "and may your coming bring happiness to us both. I will take
off my things now, and say a word, to my servants, and be with you
again directly."

With that she hurried away, and Wilhelm found himself alone. He looked
about him. The salon was luxuriously, if, according to Wilhelm's taste,
somewhat gaudily furnished. The walls were draped in yellow silk, the
portieres, window-curtains, and gilt-backed chairs being of the same
brilliant hue, though its monotony was fortunately broken by numerous
oil paintings, forming, as it were, dark islands in a sea of sulphur.
Opposite to the window hung two life-sized portraits of a lady and an
officer. The lady wore a Spanish costume with a mantilla, the gentleman
a gorgeously embroidered general's uniform, with a quantity of stars
and orders, and the ribbon of the Grand Cross. In another life-sized
picture this personage figured in the robes of some unknown military
order, and appeared a third time as a bronze bust in a corner, on a
black marble pedestal. The chimney-piece was adorned by a strange and
wonderful clock, a painfully accurate copy in gilt and colored enamel
of the Mihrab of the Mosque in Cordova. Between the windows, on a high
buhl cabinet, stood a marble bust of Queen Isabella, a gift, according
to an inscription on the base, to her valued Adjutant-General Marquis
de Henares. A charming pastel under glass showed Pilar as a very young
girl. As Wilhelm gazed at the dewy freshness of this sixteen-year-old
budding beauty, the dazzling complexion of milk and roses, the sparkle
of the merry, childish eyes, an immense tenderness came over him, and
he thought to himself that surely nature had not sufficiently protected
all these charms against the desire they must necessarily awaken in the
beholder. Such a ravishing creature might well be excused if her heart
led her astray. How could she choose aright when her beauty roused
men's passion before she had had time to gain experience or judgment
enough to defend herself?

There were a thousand other attractions in this room. A picture, or
rather a sketch, by Goya, with all the fantasti