ir
to it, and the sudden knowledge of the fact of her own Indian descent
seemed to her like a revelation, pointing out the path in which destiny
called her to walk. She thrilled with pleasure at the thought of the joy
with which Alessandro would hear this,--the joy and the surprise. She
imagined to herself, in hundreds of ways, the time, place, and phrase in
which she would tell him. She could not satisfy herself as to the best;
as to which would give keenest pleasure to him and to her. She would
tell him, as soon as she saw him; it should be her first word of
greeting. No! There would be too much of trouble and embarrassment then.
She would wait till they were far away, till they were alone, in the
wilderness; and then she would turn to him, and say, "Alessandro, my
people are your people!" Or she would wait, and keep her secret until
she had reached Temecula, and they had begun their life there, and
Alessandro had been astonished to see how readily and kindly she took
to all the ways of the Indian village; and then, when he expressed
some such emotion, she would quietly say, "But I too am an Indian,
Alessandro!"

Strange, sad bride's dreams these; but they made Ramona's heart beat
with happiness as she dreamed them.

XIV

THE first day had gone, it was near night of the second, and not a word
had passed between Felipe and Ramona, except in the presence of the
Senora. It would have been beautiful to see, if it had not been so cruel
a thing, the various and devious methods by which the Senora had brought
this about. Felipe, oddly enough, was more restive under it than Ramona.
She had her dreams. He had nothing but his restless consciousness that
he had not done for her what he hoped; that he must seem to her to have
been disloyal; this, and a continual wonder what she could be planning
or expecting which made her so placid, kept Felipe in a fever of unrest,
of which his mother noted every sign, and redoubled her vigilance.

Felipe thought perhaps he could speak to Ramona in the night, through
her window. But the August heats were fierce now; everybody slept with
wide-open windows; the Senora was always wakeful; if she should chance
to hear him thus holding secret converse with Ramona, it would indeed
make bad matters worse. Nevertheless, he decided to try it. At the first
sound of his footsteps on the veranda floor, "My son, are you ill? Can I
do anything?" came from the Senora's window. She had not been aslee