door.

Julia was in bed; her eyes flashed angrily on the intruder.

"What have you come for?" she demanded, frowning severely. "Go away, go
away immediately! This is a most atrocious thing to do!"

But Don Alfonso, not heeding her protest, calmly walked into the room,
and said in a humble voice:--

"I have come to say _adios_, cousin."

"_Adios!_" exclaimed the girl dryly, and dropping her eyes upon the
bed-spread.

Don Alfonso came to her, and audaciously taking her face between his
hands and imprinting a kiss upon it, he said at the same time:--

"In spite of all this disdain and severity, I know well that you love
me...."

The girl, confused and enraged by his impudence and what he said,
exclaimed:--

"No, no! I do not love you! You lie!... Go this instant!"

"You love me, and I love you," replied Don Alfonso, smoothing her face
with perfect unconcern.

"Fool! dunce! impudent!" cried the girl, with more and more anger, "I do
not love you; but if I did, this would be enough to make me hate you!
Go!"

"I am not a dunce and I am not impudent. I confess humbly that I would
die for you!"

"Die whenever you please, but go! Go this instant, or I will scream!"

"Don't trouble yourself any more; I am going," said he, with a smile: "I
am going; but I leave my heart here. I will write you as soon as I reach
Seville."

He left the room and shut the door; he remained a moment motionless, and
then opened it again softly to look in. Julia had turned over and was
sobbing, with her face hidden under the sheets.

XIII.

In point of fact, all the while that he was in Seville, he did not take
pains to write her once, possibly because other beauties and other
amusements used up his time; perhaps through calculation, perhaps for
both reasons.

On the other hand, he frequently sent very tender epistles to his aunt,
and never failed to express his regards for Julia.

These little lines of remembrance exasperated the girl beyond measure,
and she used to hasten to her room as soon as she saw her mother with a
letter in her hands, so as to escape the infliction.

The month of July came; _la brigadiera_ wrote to Seville announcing her
departure for Santander,[32] in whose "Astillero" she rented a cottage
for the two hottest months of the summer.

Saavedra replied, saying that he was going to Biarritz, and from there
to Paris; he hoped that they would have a very pleasant time, and that
Julia would enjoy it m