o; but against this fate Pedro rebelled, and accepted, while yet a
boy, the alternative means of livelihood that his uncle offered him in
the service of the _contraresguardo_.

As his rebellion against his proposed induction into the priesthood
showed, the boy had strong stuff in him. He had a mighty will of his
own. And there was this in common between him and his grim uncle: a
stern resolve, when duty was clear, to do duty and nothing else.
Therefore it came to pass that Pedro, being entered into the hateful
service of the customs preventive force, presently was recognized by
his superiors as one of the very few men of the corps who, in all
ways, were trustworthy; and as trustworthiness is the rarest of
virtues in the _contraresguardo_,--a service so hated that usually
only men of poor spirit will enter it at all,--his constant loyalty
brought him quick promotion as its just reward. Yet Pedro had no
happiness in his advancement. Each step upward, as he very well knew,
was earned at the cost of greater hatred and contempt. Those who would
have been his friends, had the lines of his life fallen differently,
were his enemies. Nowhere could he hope to find kindliness and love.
Therefore he grew yet more stern and silent, and yet more earnestly
gave himself to the full discharge of the duty that was sacred to him
because it was his duty, but that in his heart he abhorred. Nor did he
ever waver in his faithfulness until, coming to know Pancha, his
chilled heart was warmed by her sweet looks of friendliness, the first
that ever he had known; and, as fate decreed, the force of duty found
arrayed against it the force of love.

Pancha had a tender, gentle nature, in which was great kindliness; and
before she knew Pepe there was some little chance, perhaps, that in
sheer pity of his forlornness she might have given Pedro her love.
This, of course, showed how weak and how thoughtless Pancha was; how
ignorant of the feelings of society; how careless of the good opinion
of the world. To be sure, the possibility of her loving Pedro never
passed beyond a possibility; but that it went so far counted for a
great deal to him, to whom, in all his life, no single gleam nor even
faintest hope of love had ever come. The gentle glance or two which
she had cast him in her compassionate sorrow for his friendlessness
sank down into the depths of Pedro's heart, and bred there for her
that great love--tender, yet almost stern in its fierce inten