garden, his face decked with smiles, and his eyes replete with
pleasure and hope. He was happy, and thought no more of the lost
Theodora. He had forsaken her--her whom he had vowed for ever to love,
and to whom he had pledged his word to acknowledge her as his own before
the world. This was a masterpiece of ingratitude; and yet Theodora hoped
that ingratitude, that blackest stain of the human heart, might have
prompted the dereliction of Gomez Arias, rather than love for another.
To think that she had entirely lost his love, was a pang more cruel than
all she had hitherto endured; and this alas! was the phantom which she
strove in vain to chase away, and that most obtruded upon her mind.

The loquacious Lisarda was not tardy in making a second appearance: she
knocked for admittance, and Theodora, who in her present state was but
little predisposed to encourage her unmeaning chatter, felt nevertheless
an inward desire for the presence of her attendant. By her means she
could acquire a solution of the mystery with which she so much dreaded
to be acquainted, and yet was so anxious to learn. She opened the door,
and Lisarda no sooner entered than with her accustomed volubility she
began--

"Well, well, my gentle lady, you must forgive me certainly; I have
neglected you too long; but then consider, my good lady, what a day this
is: what with the expectation of my master's arrival, and the
preparations for this wedding, the whole palace is thrown into a
marvellous confusion."

"Say no more," replied Theodora; "you need not seek to excuse yourself;
I am but a stranger here, and have no right whatever to engross the
attention of any one, much less on such an occasion as the present."

"Aye, aye," continued Lisarda, "it is indeed a most busy time. Well, the
glorious Don Alonso arrives to-day, and to-morrow his beautiful daughter
will be led to the altar by her gallant bridegroom. Only think, my sweet
lady, what a wedding this will be. The queen and the Maestre de
Calatrava, in the absence of the king, are to be the sponsors."

"That mark of the royal favor," said Theodora, "speaks highly for the
merits of both the parties; but I am yet to learn the name of the
knight who has rendered himself deserving of such an honor."

She pronounced these last words in a faltering tone, and Lisarda, though
a thoughtless woman, soon perceived her agitation.

"_Dios nos defienda_!"[35] she cried, "what ails you, dear lady? you
look so sh