morning's work; her words had had
their effect. Besides, had she not had her say--unburdened her soul of
many things which she had long been dying to give utterance to? All
things considered she had scored.

"_A Dios_, Senorita," she added sarcastically, her black eyes gleaming
with malicious satisfaction as with mock courtesy she bowed and turned,
leaving Chiquita silent and motionless, her eyes cast on the ground and
lost in thought.

XIV

"Don Felipe here? The coward, the cur! How dare he return?" she cried
with a sudden outburst, her words ringing with indignation and
resentment. She impatiently tapped the palm of her hand with her fan as
she began to realize what his return might mean to her.

She knew that Senora had come to warn her not on her own account, but
solely on Don Felipe's. Knowing as she did the reckless character of the
man, she thoroughly realized the danger, and knew that she must be on
her guard, not only for her own sake, but for Captain Forest's as well.
Like the bird of ill omen that he was, his presence boded no good to
her. Already she felt his baleful shadow fall across her path.

The unusual attention which Chiquita had begun to pay to her personal
appearance did not escape the observant eye of Padre Antonio. Knowing
the nature of woman as few men did, he was wise enough not to question
her, experience having taught him that the majority of women can only
keep a secret for a certain length of time. He smiled and admired, or
twitted her with the simple remark: "For whom are we dressing this
morning, Chiquita _mia_?" But she only laughed in reply, or shaking her
finger at him with a mysterious air, would say: "What woman would not
dress for Padre Antonio?" But Padre Antonio was not so innocent as he
tried to appear. Instinct, reenforced by long experience, told him that
these were the first real symptoms of love which his wild little Indian
girl, as he chose to call her, had shown.

He had always suspected that she never really cared for Don Felipe, and
had done his best to break off the engagement before the catastrophe had
overtaken the latter; but this was different. That of which he was loath
to think, yet which he knew must inevitably happen, had come to pass.

His knowledge of human nature told him that she had at last met the man
worthy of her love, but, he asked himself, would Captain Forest, of a
different race and reared under totally different conditions,
reciprocate