several minutes before he threw his arm around her.

"What is the matter?" he asked, drawing nearer and sitting down by her
side.

"Nothing," she replied, lightly lifting upon him her sweet eyes dimmed
with tears.

"Oh, what a little goose! Jealous of that impudent creature!"

"No, no! I am not jealous," rejoined the girl, forcing herself to smile.
"Only I somehow felt a pain without knowing why.... I was so happy till
a moment ago!"

"And you are now just the same as you were, sweetheart!" he said,
embracing her. "Isn't it true that you are?... Tell me yes!... A few
jokes with that shameless girl--are they sufficient to destroy all your
happiness? That isn't common sense...."

It needed a few more words to banish his wife's painful impression; and
then, wiping her eyes, she exclaimed with a trembling voice torn from
her very heart:--

"If you knew, Miguel, how I loved you!"

After their reconciliation they went out of the parlor with their arms
about each other.

XII.

Julita often visited her brother and sister, but her presence was not as
pleasant for them as it used to be. The young girl's character had
notably changed during the last few weeks; she rarely gave way to that
hearty and contagious laugh which used to fascinate all who heard it;
nor did her conversation any longer sparkle with the piquante and ready
wit which formerly entranced every one. She had grown more reserved and
thoughtful; the smile that from time to time hovered over her lips was
melancholy; she had become irritable and peevish; in the course of a few
days she had three quarrels with her brother on the most trifling
subjects: such a thing in days gone by had rarely happened.

"What a pity, Julita!" exclaimed Miguel at the close of one of them.
"You are following in mamma's footsteps."

Her physical appearance had also undergone some change, and not for the
better; the roses of her cheeks had paled a little; there were blue
circles under her eyes; and though this made them more lustrous, it took
away in large measure that sweet and picturesque expression that was
characteristic of them.

Miguel and Maximina noticed these things, and had many times commented
on them with sorrow; but there was one thing that attracted their
attention above all and was the subject of long discussion between them:
this was the invincible antipathy which Julia showed to her cousin Don
Alfonso, and the eagerness with which she tried to bring