Wilhelm with a significant and mysterious air,
evidently expecting that he would ask what all this putting together of
heads might mean. As he did not evince the slightest curiosity, she
grew impatient at last, and asked with assumed lightness:

"Are you not at all jealous, you fish-blooded German?"

"Jealous? No, I certainly am not. Besides which, you give me no cause."

"Indeed! and what about my tete-a-tetes with Don Antonio?"

"Oh, Don Antonio!" laughed Wilhelm.

"You are quite right, sweetheart, but it aggravates me that you should
not want to know what he and I are brewing. You do not take nearly so
much interest in my affairs as you ought."

"But you told me that Don Antonio was your man of business."

"Well, then--no--this time it is not a matter of business. I wanted to
prepare a surprise for you." She seated herself on his knee, and laying
her cheek to his, she whispered: "I have been trying to have myself
naturalized in Belgium, and then, as a Belgian subject, get a divorce
from Count Pozaldez. In that way I might have become your wife before
the law as well."

He looked at her with a face expressive rather of alarm and
astonishment than joy, and she went on with a sigh, "However, Don
Antonio has just told me I must give up that pleasant dream--it cannot
be realized."

He kissed her lips and brow, and stroked her silky hair. She laid her
head on his shoulder, and remained long in silent thought. Presently
she rose, walked up and down the room once or twice, and finally seated
herself on a footstool at Wilhelm's feet. "But something I must do to
bind you to me," she said. "I shall not rest till there is some written
bond, something legal between us. I shall alter my will, and give you
the place in it you occupy in my life."

"Pilar," exclaimed Wilhelm, "if you love me, and if you wish that we
should remain what we are to one another, never say such a word again.
If I ever find out that you have mentioned me in your will, all is at
end between us." She drooped her head disconsolately, and he continued
in a milder tone--"Dorfling's will has not brought me so much luck that
I should ever wish to inherit money again."

The idea to which she had given expression did not leave Pilar,
however. There should be something in writing--some document with
stamps and seals to testify that Wilhelm belonged to her. This wish
assumed the proportions of a superstition with her, and she never
rested till it was sat