iumph of their
conquerors, 'twas very fit that I, forsooth, should lend what little I
possessed of youth and fairness to the making of a Spanish holiday!

But I was too spiritless, then, to dare a refusal. I bowed my head
meekly enough while Chepa--the smiling, good-natured negress--gathered
up the rustling folds of the green silk petticoat and slipped it over my
shoulders. I made no demur while she looped and twisted the long tresses
of my yellow hair, fastening it high with a tall comb, and tying a knot
of black velvet riband upon each of the wilful little bunches of curls
that ever come tumbling about my ears.

When all was finished, and the lace mantilla fastened to my comb and
draped about my shoulders, I was moved by Barbara's cries of admiration
to cast one glance upon the mirror. 'Twas an unfamiliar picture that I
saw there, and my pale face blushed with some mortification that it
should have lent itself so kindly to a foreign fashion.

I would have thrown off all the braveries that minute; but just then
came a message from Dona Orosia, bidding me hasten.

"What matters anything to me now?" I thought wearily; and, slowly
descending to the courtyard, I took my place in the closed chair that
waited, and was borne after the Governor's lady to the Plaza, where, at
the western end facing upon the little open square, was the gay
pavilion.

Its red and yellow banners shone gaudily in the hot sunlight of the
summer afternoon, and the fresh sea breeze kept the tassels and
streamers all a-flutter, like butterflies hovering over a bed of
flowers.

Three sides of the Plaza were lined with spectators, but the eastern
end--which opened out toward the bay--was kept clear for the troops to
enter.

Against the slight railing of the little pavilion leaned Dona Orosia,
strangely fair in a gown of black lace and primrose yellow, that
transformed the soft contours of her throat and cheek from pale olive to
the purest pearl. She deigned to bestow but a single cold, unfriendly
glance upon me; then she bent forward as before, her lifted fan
shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun-kissed sea.

Presently, with the blare of trumpets and the deep rolling of the drums,
the King's troops came in sight, three hundred strong.

At the head of the little band, which marched afoot, rode Melinza and
the Governor. 'Twas the first time I had seen a horse in the town.

Old Senor de Colis was mounted on a handsome bay that pranced and