eward road. And yet he was blameless then. As far as that was
concerned, he could excuse himself; he could explain all. He felt so
guilty in some things, that he was anxious to show his innocence in other
things where he had not been to blame; and so he hastened most eagerly to
give a long and an eloquent vindication of himself, by explaining all
about his journey to England, and his return to Barcelona, and his search
after her which had led him to this.

And in all this Talbot found only proofs of Harry's unalterable fidelity.
e had been true! She had been false! What now was there for her to do? To
sacrifice this man? What? after such love and loyalty? Or, on the other
hand, to give up Brooke! Brooke!--give up Brooke! Oh heavens! How was that
possible? Would she not rather die than give up Brooke? When her own words
to him were fresh in her memory, and when his words of love to her were
still ringing in her ears--at such a moment as this could she think of
giving up Brooke?

Such were the thoughts and feelings of these two.

Meanwhile Ashby, finding himself left alone by Dolores, stood for a while
wondering who her friend might be; until at length, finding that she was
beginning to give him a detailed history of her life, he looked around in
despair. And he saw Katie standing alone, where she had been left by
Harry, near the foot of the stairway; and as all the others were engaged
in their own affairs, and, moreover, as his relations with Katie were of
the most intimate kind, he saw no other course open to him than to
approach her and converse with her. And at that moment he remembered that
Katie had in her possession--perhaps in her pocket--a--certain letter
which he had written to her only a few days before, full of protestations
of love; in which he informed her that he was going to travel with her in
the same train, in the hope of seeing her at Burgos or Bayonne; in which
he urged her to come to him, to be his wife; to set at defiance her
hostile guardian, and to unite herself with him. This seemed strange to
him now, when his mind was filled with thoughts of Dolores, and his heart
was full of the love of Dolores. Even his resentment against her had
passed away. She had allowed herself to indulge in a flirtation with his
friend Rivers. Was that a crime? He, on the other hand, had lost all love
for her, and had given all his heart to Dolores. Katie seemed to him now
not repugnant as a false one, but merely pitia