titude, listening to the conversation, of which not a
word escaped her. It was not, however, her interest in that which bound
her to the spot, but her fear of being discovered should she attempt to
leave it. She had reason while it was still moonlight, for the open
ground she must pass over was distinctly visible from the arbour. It
was only after the moon went down that she saw the prospect of retiring
unseen; and, choosing a moment when the lovers had their faces turned
from her, she crawled a few yards back, rose to her feet, and ran nimbly
off in the darkness.

Strange to say, the rustling heard by the senorita was not made by the
girl at the moment of her leaving the arbour. It was caused by a twig
which she had bent behind a branch, the better to conceal herself, and
this releasing itself had sprung back to its place. That was why no
object was visible to the lovers, although coming hastily out of the
arbour. The spy at that instant was beyond the reach of sight as well
as hearing. She had got through the avenue before the twig moved.

She did not stop for a moment. She did not return to her apartment, but
crossing the patio hastily entered the zaguan. This she traversed with
stealthy steps, as if afraid to awake the portero.

On reaching the gate she drew from her pocket a key. It was not the key
of the main lock, but of the lesser one, belonging to the postern door
which opened through the great gate.

This key she had secured at an earlier hour of the evening, for the very
use she was now about to make of it.

She placed it in the lock, and then shot the bolt, using all the care
she could to prevent it from making a noise. She raised the latch with
like caution; and then, opening the door, stepped gently to the outside.
She next closed the door after her, slowly and silently; and this done,
she ran with all her speed along the road towards some woods that were
outside the town, and not far from the house of Don Ambrosio.

It was in these woods that Roblado held his men in ambush. He had
brought them thither at a late hour, and by a circuitous route, so that
no one should see them as they entered the timber, and thus prevent the
possibility of a frustration of his plans. Here he was waiting the
arrival of his spy.

The girl soon reached the spot, and in a few minutes detailed to the
officer the whole of what she had witnessed. What she had heard there
was no time to tell, for she communicate