inute, sick at heart with misgiving the next. Ramona loved
him. She had told him so. She had said she would go away with him and
be his wife. The words had but just passed her lips, at that dreadful
moment when the Senora appeared in their presence. As he lived the scene
over again, he re-experienced the joy and the terror equally.

What was not that terrible Senora capable of doing? Why did she look
at him and at Ramona with such loathing scorn? Since she knew that the
Senorita was half Indian, why should she think it so dreadful a thing
for her to marry an Indian man? It did not once enter into Alessandro's
mind, that the Senora could have had any other thought, seeing them as
she did, in each other's arms. And again what had he to give to Ramona?
Could she live in a house such as he must live in,--live as the Temecula
women lived? No! for her sake he must leave his people; must go to some
town, must do--he knew not what--something to earn more money. Anguish
seized him as he pictured to himself Ramona suffering deprivations. The
more he thought of the future in this light, the more his joy faded and
his fear grew. He had never had sufficient hope that she could be his,
to look forward thus to the practical details of life; he had only gone
on loving, and in a vague way dreaming and hoping; and now,--now, in
a moment, all had been changed; in a moment he had spoken, and she had
spoken, and such words once spoken, there was no going back; and he had
put his arms around her, and felt her head on his shoulder, and kissed
her! Yes, he, Alessandro, had kissed the Senorita Ramona, and she had
been glad of it, and had kissed him on the lips, as no maiden kisses a
man unless she will wed with him,--him, Alessandro! Oh, no wonder the
man's brain whirled, as he sat there in the silent darkness, wondering,
afraid, helpless; his love wrenched from him, in the very instant of
their first kiss,--wrenched from him, and he himself ordered, by one who
had the right to order him, to begone! What could an Indian do against a
Moreno!

Would Felipe help him? Ay, there was Felipe! That Felipe was his
friend, Alessandro knew with a knowledge as sure as the wild partridge's
instinct for the shelter of her brood; but could Felipe move the Senora?
Oh, that terrible Senora! What would become of them?

As in the instant of drowning, men are said to review in a second the
whole course of their lives, so in this supreme moment of Alessandro's
lo