it
will on the instant propitiate the old shadbelly who shall perform the
affair, and withhold his jaw. A little chin-music from your oncle 'Arry
shall finish it! Remain tranquil and forgot not a ring! One does not
always, in the agony and dissatisfaction of the moment, a ring remember.
I shall bring two in the pocket of my dress."

If I did not entirely participate in this roseate view it may have
been because Enriquez, although a few years my senior, was much
younger-looking, and with his demure deviltry of eye, and his upper lip
close shaven for this occasion, he suggested a depraved acolyte rather
than a responsible member of a family. Consuelo had also confided to
me that her father--possibly owing to some rumors of our previous
escapade--had forbidden any further excursions with me alone. The
innocent man did not know that Chu Chu had forbidden it also, and that
even on this momentous occasion both Enriquez and myself were obliged to
ride in opposite fields like out flankers. But we nevertheless felt the
full guilt of disobedience added to our desperate enterprise. Meanwhile,
although pressed for time, and subject to discovery at any moment, I
managed at certain points of the road to dismount and walk beside Chu
Chu (who did not seem to recognize me on foot), holding Consuelo's hand
in my own, with the discreet Enriquez leading my horse in the distant
field. I retain a very vivid picture of that walk--the ascent of a
gentle slope towards a prospect as yet unknown, but full of glorious
possibilities; the tender dropping light of an autumn sky, slightly
filmed with the promise of the future rains, like foreshadowed tears,
and the half frightened, half serious talk into which Consuelo and I
had insensibly fallen. And then, I don't know how it happened, but as we
reached the summit Chu Chu suddenly reared, wheeled, and the next moment
was flying back along the road we had just traveled, at the top of her
speed! It might have been that, after her abstracted fashion, she only
at that moment detected my presence; but so sudden and complete was
her evolution that before I could regain my horse from the astonished
Enriquez she was already a quarter of a mile on the homeward stretch,
with the frantic Consuelo pulling hopelessly at the bridle. We started
in pursuit. But a horrible despair seized us. To attempt to overtake
her, to even follow at the same rate of speed would only excite Chu
Chu and endanger Consuelo's life. Th