of Segovia one
morning, he was accosted somewhat too courteously, he thought, for
their slight acquaintance, by Don Luis Garcia.

"And whither so early, Senor Stanley?" he inquired so courteously that
it could not give offence, particularly as it followed other queries
of a graceful greeting, and was not put forth abruptly.

"To the mansion of Don Ferdinand Morales," replied the young
Englishman, frankly.

"Indeed! from the King?"

Stanley answered in the affirmative, too deeply engrossed with his own
thoughts, to attend much to his companion, whose interrogations he
would undoubtedly in a more natural mood have felt inclined to resent.

"Don Ferdinand Morales ranks as high in the favor of the people as
of the King--a marvellous conjunction of qualities, is it not, Senor
Stanley?" continued Garcia, after walking by his side some minutes in
silence. "A Monarch's favorite is seldom that of his subjects; but
Morales is unusually deserving. I wonder not at the love he wins."

"Neither Ferdinand nor Isabella bestows favors on the undeserving,"
briefly, almost sternly answered Stanley, with an unconscious change
of tone and manner, which did not escape his companion.

"And he is so singularly fortunate, every thing he touches seems to
turn to gold--an universal idol, possessed too of such wealth and
splendor, and, above all, with such a being to share them with him.
Fortune has marked him favored in all things. Didst ever behold a
creature equal in loveliness to Donna Marie, Senor Stanley?"

A momentary, and to any other but Don Luis, incomprehensible emotion,
passed over the countenance of Stanley at these words; but though
it was instantly recalled, and indifference both in expression of
countenance and voice resumed, it passed not unobserved; and Don Luis,
rejoicing in the pain he saw he was inflicting, continued an eloquent
panegyric on the wife of Morales, the intense love she bore her
husband, and the beautiful unity and harmony of their wedded life,
until they parted within a short distance of the public entrance to
Don Ferdinand's mansion, towards which Stanley turned.

Don Luis looked after his retreating form, and folding his arms in his
mantle, bent down his head, assuming an attitude which to passers-by
expressed the meek humility of his supposed character. There was a
wild gleam of triumph, in his eyes which he knew, and therefore they
were thus bent down, and there were thoughts in his heart which mig