aces we shall find things much changed. And--well, my heart is
sad, and I have many doubts."

"I feel that my Ruth is alive," I said, confidently, though my heart
sank within me.

"She may be alive, and yet who knows if she loves you? Ah! Senor, do
not build your hopes too high. A woman is for ever a woman, a puzzle
to themselves, and an unfathomable mystery to men."

"Well, I'm going to see if all is well, anyhow," I said. "What are you
going to do?"

"Trewinion, I feel I have acted wrongly," he said. "I came away
leaving my Inez unprotected. The man who stole her from me is dead;
but what has become of her I know not. Methinks I never loved her
well, or I should not have left her because of fear of pursuit. She
was guilty of nothing, and she loved me, and I have left her all these
long years."

I was silent, for I felt it would be useless to speak.

"But I shall try to find her," he went on, "and--who knows?--it may be
that she will forgive me and we shall be happy. I trust so, I pray it
may be so."

"And if you do, how shall I know?" I said.

"I have been thinking of this ever since we decided to leave," he
replied, "and this is the plan I have marked out. You had better go
first to Bordeaux. From there you will be easily able to get a vessel
for England. I, on the other hand, shall go across The Pyrenees to my
home at Barcelona. If I am alive, this address will find me," and he
put a piece of paper in my hand.

"Will you be safe there?" I asked.

"I think so. You know my people are wild and passionate. They easily
forgive such sins as mine when they remember my provocation. Indeed, I
have known the perpetrators of similar deeds lauded as heroes. My only
thought is, if I shall find Inez--if I do not I shall not care to live;
but if I do, the past will be forgotten, and I shall be happy."

The tears stood in his eyes as he spoke, and then I realised that all
his sinful deeds had not destroyed his heart.

I left that same afternoon for Bordeaux, while Salambo made
preparations to go to Barcelona, where he hoped to find his Inez.

In spite of all my eagerness and anxiety it was one month from the
night on which I received my summons home to the time I landed at
Falmouth. Without waiting an hour I made preparations to hurry on to
Trewinion Manor. I shall never forget my feelings when, after ten
years of absence, I first saw the Cornish cliffs. At one time it
seemed as though the past