our pupils. Ah! here is Father Esteban," she added, with a marked
tone of relief, as she crossed over to the priest's side.

When Father Esteban returned to the refectory that evening, Hurlstone
was absent. When it grew later, becoming uneasy, the good Father sought
him in the garden. At the end of the avenue of pear-trees there was a
break in the sea-wall, and here, with his face to the sea, Hurlstone was
leaning gloomily. Father Esteban's tread was noiseless, and he had laid
his soft hand on the young man's shoulder before Hurlstone was aware
of his presence. He started slightly, his gloomy eyes fell before the
priest's.

"My son," said the old man gravely, "this must go on no longer."

"I don't understand you," Hurlstone replied coldly.

"Do not try to deceive yourself, nor me. Above all, do not try to
deceive HER. Either you are or are not in love with this countrywoman
of yours. If you are not, my respect for her and my friendship for you
prompts me to save you both from a foolish intimacy that may ripen into
a misplaced affection; if you are already in love with her"--

"I have never spoken a word of love to her!" interrupted Hurlstone
quickly. "I have even tried to avoid her since"--

"Since you found that you loved her! Ah, foolish boy! and you think that
because the lips speak not, the passions of the heart are stilled! Do
you think your silence in her presence is not a protestation that she,
even she, child as she is, can read, with the cunning of her sex?"

"Well--if I am in love with her, what then?" said Hurlstone doggedly.
"It is no crime to love a pure and simple girl. Am I not free? You
yourself, in yonder church, told me"--

"Silence, Diego," said the priest sternly. "Silence, before you utter
the thought that shall disgrace you to speak and me to hear!"

"Forgive me, Father Esteban," said the young man hurriedly, grasping
both hands of the priest. "Forgive me--I am mad--distracted--but I swear
to you I only meant"--

"Hush!" interrupted the priest more gently. "So; that will do." He
stopped, drew out his snuff-box, rapped the lid, and took a pinch of
snuff slowly. "We will not recur to that point. Then you have told her
the story of your life?"

"No; but I will, She shall know all--everything--before I utter a word
of love to her."

"Ah! bueno! muy bueno!" said the Padre, wiping his nose ostentatiously.
"Ah! let me see! Then, when we have shown her that we cannot possibly
marry her, we wi