done what I chose with it."

Jose lifted his head and listened.

"What has happened?" he asked.

"She has thrown away the _devisa_, which I had saved," answered Jovita.
"I laid it away, and she has taken it. What harm did it do her that it
should lie out of her sight in peace?"

"Did you do that?" Jose said to Pepita.

"Was it meant for her?" said Pepita. "I told you he ought to have thrown
it to her and not to me."

Jose broke a piece of bread and crumbled it on the table mechanically.

"You need not have done that," he said. "I wish you had left it in its
place. It did no hurt, and we shall not see him again. He is not coming
any more. And soon he goes away; and who knows what may happen?"

Pepita walked out of the house without speaking. She did not come back
for a long time, and they did not know where she had gone; but as that
was her way when she was in a naughty humor, they were not anxious about
her.

When she returned at last the moon was shining again, and Jovita was
asleep in the shadow of the vines, and Jose sat on the bench outside the
door, smoking.

[Illustration: Pepita sat down on the threshold 115]

Pepita sat down on the threshold and rested her head against the side of
the door. She said nothing at all, and only looked out at the dew-laden
flowers sparkling in the garden.

There was silence for several minutes, and then Jose turned uneasily and
spoke.

"Yes," he said, "he will not come again; and soon he goes away. It is
for the best. He is very strong and determined. Perhaps that comes of
fighting bulls. He said he wanted you, but you did not want him, so he
must forget about you. He must cease to think of you or hear of you.
He asked me as a friend not to let him see me for a while, until it was
over. To see me would remind him of you, and that would not do. He asked
it as a friend--there was no unkind-ness--he is my friend, yes, though
he is Sebastiano and I am only a poor fellow who works hard. It will
all be as well as ever between us when it is all done with and we meet
again. If you had wanted him we should have been brothers."

Pepita sat still. What strange thing had happened to her? She did not
know. Something was the matter with her breathing. Something hurt her
side--labored in it with heavy beatings like blows which suffocated her.
She shut her hands and drove the nails into her palms. She could not
have spoken for the world.

Before Jose could say more she rose with f