ve there flashed through his mind vivid pictures of every word and act
of Ramona's since he first knew her. He recollected the tone in which
she had said, and the surprise with which he heard her say it, at the
time of Felipe's fall, "You are Alessandro, are you not?" He heard again
her soft-whispered prayers the first night Felipe slept on the veranda.
He recalled her tender distress because the shearers had had no dinner;
the evident terribleness to her of a person going one whole day without
food. "O God! will she always have food each day if she comes with me?"
he said. And at the bare thought he was ready to flee away from her
forever. Then he recalled her look and her words only a few hours ago,
when he first told her he loved her; and his heart took courage. She
had said, "I know you love me, Alessandro, and I am glad of it," and had
lifted her eyes to his, with all the love that a woman's eyes can carry;
and when he threw his arms around her, she had of her own accord come
closer, and laid one hand on his shoulder, and turned her face to his.
Ah, what else mattered! There was the whole world; if she loved him like
this, nothing could make them wretched; his love would be enough for
her,--and for him hers was an empire.

It was indeed true, though neither the Senora nor Margarita would have
believed it, that this had been the first word of love ever spoken
between Alessandro and Ramona, the first caress ever given, the first
moment of unreserve. It had come about, as lovers' first words, first
caresses, are so apt to do, unexpectedly, with no more premonition, at
the instant, than there is of the instant of the opening of a flower.
Alessandro had been speaking to Ramona of the conversation Felipe had
held with him in regard to remaining on the place, and asked her if she
knew of the plan.

"Yes," she said; "I heard the Senora talking about it with Felipe, some
days ago."

"Was she against my staying?" asked Alessandro, quickly.

"I think not," said Ramona, "but I am not sure. It is not easy to be
sure what the Senora wishes, till afterward. It was Felipe that proposed
it."

This somewhat enigmatical statement as to the difficulty of knowing the
Senora's wishes was like Greek to Alessandro's mind.

"I do not understand, Senorita," he said. "What do you mean by
'afterward'?"

"I mean," replied Ramona, "that the Senora never says she wishes
anything; she says she leaves everything to Felipe to decide, or to