what is the matter with me."

She fell senseless into her cousin's arms. Caressing her, he noticed
that her face was covered with a cold perspiration.

"She is really ill," he said to himself. "It was a piece of great
imprudence to have come down stairs."

He lifted her up in his arms, endeavoring to restore her to
consciousness, but neither the trembling that had seized her nor her
insensibility passed away; and he resolved to carry her out of the
chapel, in the hope that the fresh air would revive her. And so it was.
When she recovered consciousness Rosario manifested great disquietude
at finding herself at such an hour out of her own room. The clock of the
cathedral struck four.

"How late it is!" exclaimed the young girl. "Release me, cousin. I think
I can walk. I am really very ill."

"I will go upstairs with you."

"Oh, no; on no account! I would rather drag myself to my room on my
hands and feet. Don't you hear a noise?"

Both were silent. The anxiety with which they listened made the silence
intense.

"Don't you hear any thing, Pepe?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Pay attention. There, there it is again. It is a noise that sounds as
if it might be either very, very distant, or very near. It might either
be my mother's breathing or the creaking of the vane on the tower of the
cathedral. Ah! I have a very fine ear."

"Too fine! Well, dear cousin, I will carry you upstairs in my arms."

"Very well; carry me to the head of the stairs. Afterward I can go
alone. As soon as I rest a little I shall be as well as ever. But don't
you hear?"

They stopped on the first step.

"It is a metallic sound."

"Your mother's breathing?"

"No, it is not that. The noise comes from a great distance. Perhaps it
is the crowing of a cock?"

"Perhaps so."

"It sounds like the words, 'I am going there, I am going there!'"

"Now, now I hear," murmured Pepe Rey.

"It is a cry."

"It is a cornet."

"A cornet!"

"Yes. Let us hurry. Orbajosa is going to wake up. Now I hear it clearly.
It is not a trumpet but a clarionet. The soldiers are coming."

"Soldiers!"

"I don't know why I imagine that this military invasion is going to be
advantageous to me. I feel glad. Up, quickly, Rosario!"

"I feel glad, too. Up, up!"

In an instant he had carried her upstairs, and the lovers took a
whispered leave of each other.

"I will stand at the window overlooking the garden, so that you may know
I have reached my room safely