ld think you were going to leap down to the plain, as
if to save some one in danger."

"Don Rafael, God have pity on him!" exclaimed Gertrudis in a state of
distraction.

"Don Fernando!" cried Marianita, shuddering as she spoke.

"The plain will soon be one great lake," continued the servant; "woe to
them who may be caught upon it! But as for Don Fernando, you may make
yourself easy, senorita. The vaquero who came in was sent by Don
Fernando with a message to master, to say that he would be here in the
morning in his boat."

After delivering this intelligence the attendant retired, leaving the
young girls once more alone.

"In a boat!" exclaimed Marianita, as soon as the servant had gone out.
"Oh, Gertrudis!" she continued, suddenly passing from sadness to a
transport of joy, "won't that be delightful? We shall sail upon the
water in our state barge crowned with flowers, and--"

As Marianita turned round, her transport of frivolous egotism was
suddenly checked, as she saw her sister, with her long dark tresses
hanging dishevelled around her, kneeling in front of an image of the
Madonna. Giving way to a feeling of reproach, she also knelt down and
mingled her prayers with those of Gertrudis, while the alarm-bell
continued to peal forth to the four quarters of the compass its notes of
solemn and lugubrious import.

"Oh, my poor Gertrudis!" said she, taking her sister's hand in her own,
while her tears fell fast upon the glistening tresses; "pardon me if, in
the fulness of my own joy, I did not perceive that your heart was
breaking. Don Rafael--you love him then?"

"If he die I shall die too--that is all I know," murmured Gertrudis,
with a choking sigh.

"Nay, do not fear, Gertrudis; God will protect him. He will send one of
his messengers to save him," said the young girl, in the simplicity of
her faith; and then returning, she mingled her prayers with those of her
sister, now and then alternating them with words of consolation.

"Go to the window!" said Gertrudis, after some time had passed. "See if
there is yet any one upon the plain. I cannot, for my eyes are filled
with tears. I shall remain here."

And, saying these words, Gertrudis again knelt before the image of the
Virgin.

Marianita instantly obeyed the request, and, gliding across the floor,
took her stand by the open window. The golden haze that had hitherto
hung over the plain was darkening into a purple violet colour, but no
horseman