"

Juana burst into a hearty fit of laughter.

II.

After they had breakfasted they found that they had no water. At the
first stop, Juana got out, and came back with a tumblerful. There is
some slight basis for the belief that during her short absence Miguel
kissed his bride elsewhere than on her hand; but we have no absolute
proof of it.

At Venta de Banos four travellers entered the same compartment,--three
ladies and a gentleman. All were upwards of forty. From what they said
it was evident that they were brother and sisters; and they spoke with a
decided Galician[3] accent.

Miguel took the seat by his wife's side, and put the maid in front of
them, and made up his mind to be very circumspect, so that the strangers
might not suspect that they were newly married. Nevertheless, one
circumstance could not escape them: the constant exchange of glances and
the mysterious conversation kept up by the young people betrayed them
beyond peradventure. The ladies laughed at first, then they whispered
together, and finally they schemed to get into conversation with their
companions; and in this they were speedily successful.

It did not take them long to find out what they wanted to know;
whereupon there sprang up, for some reason or other, a lively sympathy
for Maximina, and they made it perfectly manifest, and overwhelmed her
with attentions. The girl, who was not used to such things, appeared
confused and embarrassed, and smiled with that timid, bashful look that
was characteristic of her.

This entirely won the hearts of the Galician ladies; they openly took
her under their protection. They were all unmarried; the brother also.
None of them had been willing to get married, "because of the grief
which the mere idea of separation caused the others": they were
unanimous in this assertion. As for the rest, how many proposals they
had refused!

One of them,--Dolores,--according to the other two, had been engaged six
years to a law student in Santiago. When he finished his studies,
Dolores for some reason or other had broken their engagement, and the
young lawyer had gone home, where, in his indignation, he had
immediately married the richest belle of the village.

The second sister, Rita, had had several attachments, but her papa had
objected to them. The young man who loved her was a poet; he was poor.
Nothing could induce her papa to give up his opposition and accept him
for a son-in-law. When least they th