med to Pepe Rey not that his head had struck
against the sacred foot, but that this had moved, warning him in the
briefest and most eloquent manner. Raising his head he said, half
seriously, half gayly:

"Lord, do not strike me; I will do nothing wrong."

At the same moment Rosario took the young man's hand and pressed it
against her heart. A voice was heard, a pure, grave, angelic voice, full
of feeling, saying:

"Lord whom I adore, Lord God of the world, and guardian of my house and
of my family; Lord whom Pepe also adores; holy and blessed Christ who
died on the cross for our sins; before thee, before thy wounded body,
before thy forehead crowned with thorns, I say that this man is my
husband, and that, after thee, he is the being whom my heart loves most;
I say that I declare him to be my husband, and that I will die before
I belong to another. My heart and my soul are his. Let not the world
oppose our happiness, and grant me the favor of this union, which I
swear to be true and good before the world, as it is in my conscience."

"Rosario, you are mine!" exclaimed Pepe Rey, with exaltation. "Neither
your mother nor any one else shall prevent it."

Rosario sank powerless into her cousin's arms. She trembled in his manly
embrace, as the dove trembles in the talons of the eagle.

Through the engineer's mind the thought flashed that the devil existed;
but the devil then was he. Rosario made a slight movement of fear; she
felt the thrill of surprise, so to say, that gives warning that danger
is near.

"Swear to me that you will not yield to them," said Pepe Rey, with
confusion, observing the movement.

"I swear it to you by my father's ashes that are--"

"Where?"

"Under our feet."

The mathematician felt the stone rise under his feet--but no, it was not
rising; he only fancied, mathematician though he was, that he felt it
rise.

"I swear it to you," repeated Rosario, "by my father's ashes, and by the
God who is looking at us----May our bodies, united as they are, repose
under those stones when God wills to take us out of this world."

"Yes," repeated the Pepe Rey, with profound emotion, feeling his soul
filled with an inexplicable trouble.

Both remained silent for a short time. Rosario had risen.

"Already?" he said.

She sat down again.

"You are trembling again," said Pepe. "Rosario, you are ill; your
forehead is burning."

"I think I am dying," murmured the young girl faintly. "I don't know