had to surmount. It was the surrender of the Confederacy,
and what this upsetting complication meant against her own errand was
embodied in the man before her. For in him lay the results of the
Surrender as affecting the Mexican empire. In a word, he brought aid for
Maximilian at the moment when Maximilian might be discouraged enough to
give way to France; when the forgetful prince might gladly leave all to
the generous nation which had placed him on his throne and which by him
was cheated of the reward of its costly empire building. Should the
French threaten to withdraw, should they in reality withdraw, still he
would not abdicate, not with Confederate veterans to replace the
pantalons rouges. Like the dog of the fable, Maximilian would cling to
the manger.

"Oui, oui, monsieur," she repeated sharply, "you interfere!"

"In that case," said Driscoll quietly, "I will leave you at the river
junction. When I see that you are safely at the hacienda----"

"You will go back to America?"

"That need not worry you."

"Then you are _not_ going back, back to your own country?" He would
keep on to the City alone. She would have no chance to intercept him.
After all Fate had been good to her--no, cruel!--to cast him in her
path. "You might find the Austrian escort safer than going alone," she
said enticingly.

He hesitated. What all this was about, he could not imagine. He knew
nothing, naturally, of the dark intrigues of an enigmatical adventurer
far away in the Tuileries, nor how they could affect him. And so he put
away as absurd the fancy that she in her turn might interfere with him.
Besides, he was tempted.

"It's a go!" he said.

She for her part was thinking, hoping, rather, that perhaps she was
mistaken. Perhaps he only bore the offer of a paltry few hundred, a
handful of homeseekers from his regiment. She hoped so. She would have
prayed for it, had praying occurred to her.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE STRANGEST AVOWAL OF LOVE

"Nae living man I'll love again,
Since that my lovely knight is slain."
--_Lament of the Border Widow._

Back once more at the hacienda, Driscoll recovered his coat still
hanging over the dungeon window. Lopez would have called it insolence,
had he been there instead of scouring the country toward Mexico.
Jacqueline and Berthe settled themselves in the traveling coach left for
their comfort by Maximilian. Driscoll's effects, including his gray
cape-coat and the