no longer loved--this was her reflection. The
distant proof she had for a while believed in--the affair of Aguas
Calientes--was perhaps only a wild freak on the part of the Colonel; and
if he no longer loved her, it was because he loved another.

Moreover, her messenger would have to traverse a country disturbed by
civil war, and there was every chance of his failing to accomplish his
mission. This doubt also added to the torture she was undergoing.

Overcome by such sad thoughts, and at times devoured by black and bitter
jealousy, her heart was lacerated to the extreme of endurance. Her
cheek had paled to the hue of the lily; while the purple circle round
her eyes told of the mental agony the young Creole was enduring.

In this condition was she when Don Mariano set out on the journey from
Oajaca--only three days after the departure of the messenger Gaspar.

The fond father beheld with apprehension the extreme melancholy that had
taken possession of his daughter; and, convinced of the inutility of the
efforts he had already made to cure her of her passion for Don Rafael--
by representing the latter as unworthy of her--he had altogether changed
his tactics in that regard. He now endeavoured to extenuate the faults
of the Colonel; and, in the place of an accuser, became his benevolent
champion.

"The nobility and frankness of his character," Don Mariano would say,
"is enough to set aside all suspicion of his perfidy. His silence may
be explained by the events through which he has been involuntarily
borne, and by the political relationships that surround him."

Gertrudis smiled sadly at the words of her father, but her heart was not
the less torn with grief.

In this unpleasant state of mind they passed three days, while
journeying from Oajaca to the borders of the lake Ostuta. On the route
they had met with no particular adventures nor encountered any obstacle;
though from rumours that reached them from time to time--of the
sanguinary deeds perpetrated by the ferocious Arroyo--they could not
help experiencing a certain amount of apprehension.

It was on the third evening of the journey that they reached the Ostuta
river and had halted upon its banks at the spot already described.
During the night Don Mariano, rendered uneasy by hearing certain
confused noises in the adjoining forest, had despatched one of the
trustiest of his servants in the direction of the crossing, with
directions to reconnoitre the plac