The steamship was just hiding behind one of the headlands like a fantastic warrior, walking through the water until only the plume of his helmet was visible. When it had disappeared, Ricardo joined his future sister, who seemed not to notice his presence, so absorbed was she in contemplation of the ocean; yet after a moment she suddenly turned around, and said,—

"Do you dare to go with me to the point which extends out there at the right?"

"I have no objection, but I warn you that it's flood tide, and that that point will be surrounded by water before the end of an hour."

"No matter; we have time enough to go to it."

Leaping and balancing over the rocks along the shore, which were full of pools and lined with seaweed, whereon they ran great risk of slipping, they reached the point far out in the sea.

"Let us sit down," said Marta. "Sometimes the sea comes up as far as this, doesn't it?"

Neither of them spoke. They enjoyed the contemplation of ocean's majesty and grandeur, with a humble sense of their own insignificance, and with a vague longing to share in its divine, immortal power. Their eyes followed again and again unweariedly along the fluctuating line of the horizon which revealed to them other spaces, endless and luminous. Without noticing it, by an instinctive movement they had again drawn nearer to each other as though they had some fear of the monster roaring at their feet. Ricardo had laid one arm around the young girl's waist, and held her gently as if to defend her from some danger.

At the end of a long time, Marta turned her kindled face toward him and said, with trembling voice,—

"Ricardo, will you let me lean my head on your breast? I feel like weeping!"

Ricardo looked at her in surprise, and drawing her gently toward him, laid her head on his knee. The girl thanked him with a smile.

The waters beat upon the point where they were, spattering them with spray, and ceaselessly pouring in and out of the deep caves of the rocks, which seemed hollow, like a house. The rivers tumbling over them awoke strange, confused murmurs within, seeming sometimes like the far-off echoes of a thunder-clap, again like the deep rumbling of an organ.

"Hark!" she said, after a little; "don't you hear it?"

"What?"

"Don't you hear, amid the roar of the water, something like a lament?"

Ricardo listened a moment.

"I don't hear anything."

"No; now it has stopped; wait a while.... Now don't you hear it?... Yes, yes, there's no doubt about it ... there's some one weeping in the hollows of this rock...."

"Don't be worried, tonta; it's the surf that makes those strange noises.... Do you want me to go down and see if there's any one in there?"

"No! no!" she exclaimed, eagerly; "stay quiet.... If you should move, it would disturb me greatly...."

The great spot of silver kept extending further over the circuit of the ocean, but it began to grow pale. The sun was rapidly journeying toward the horizon, in majestic calm, without a cloud to accompany him, wrapt in a gold and red vapor, which gradually melted, till it was entirely lost in the clear blue of the sky. The point where they were, likewise stretched its shadow over the water, the dark green of which, little by little, grew into black. The roaring of the waves became muffled, and the breeze blew softly, like the indolent breathing of one about to go to sleep. An august, soul-stirring silence began to come up from the bosom of the waters. In the caverns of the rock Marta no longer perceived the mournful cry which had frightened her; and the thunders and mumblings had been slowly changing into a soft and languid glu glu.

"Are you going to sleep?" asked Ricardo again.

Ricardo trembled a little; he cast a look about him, and saw that the water was ready to cut off the isthmus uniting them to the shore.

"Come, we are almost surrounded by water already."

"Be quiet, Martita; you are delirious ... Come along, the tide is rising."

"Wait a moment ... We have been here an hour, and the wind hasn't cooled my cheeks ... they are hotter than ever.... No matter ... I am comfortable.... Do you want to do me a favor?... Listen! I must ask your forgiveness ..."

"What for?"

The young man bent over and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"If you would not be angry, I would ask for another here;" and she touched her moist, rosy lips.

The young marquis grew red in the face; he remained an instant motionless; then bending down his head, he gave the girl a prolonged kiss on her lips.

A strong gust of wind waked the ocean just as he was getting ready to sleep; he stirred an instant in his immense bed of sand, as though he were going to change his position, and uttered a low murmur of discontent. The waves in the distance began to roll in, big and blue; on the beach they clamored with strong voices. The lights which had shone on their crests were gone, and the magnificent ebullition of the submarine treasure had ceased. The silver spot was fast taking on the melancholy reflections of burnished steel.

When they got to the house they found that a number of servants had been sent out in search of them, as everything had been long ready for the return. The afternoon was wearing on, and the ladies would not find it much to their liking should night catch them on the sea. They were welcomed back therefore with signs of satisfaction, and all hands hastened to settle themselves again in the falúas, which, on account of the swell, were as restless as horses harnessed and waiting for their master at the stable door.

Their sails were raised, and making long tacks to get advantage of the wind, they bore away to El Moral. Marta, when she entered the yawl, had lost the bright color from her cheeks.

"Gentlemen, will you have the goodness not to say yo-heave-oh! for it greatly frightens this young lady."

But Rosario, quite irritated and shedding a sea of tears, instantly exclaimed,—

"No, no; let them say yo-heave-oh! but let us perish quickly if we are going to!..."

Little by little, however, and seeing that the tremendous catastrophe did not take place, her nerves grew calmer, and before long she was laughing, giddy girl that she was, at her ridiculous fears.

In the Elorza falúa there was little talking. Don Mariano and Don Maximo were too full of medoc to feel like indulging in an animated conversation. The Señorita de Delgado, seconded by her sisters, admired the sunset with lively transports of enthusiasm, and with much opening and shutting of eyes. The Marquis of Peñalta had closed his, and seemed to be dozing with his cheek in his hand. One or two couples were whispering together.

What was Marta thinking about at that moment, her gaze fastened on the sea, serious, motionless, and pale as a statue? What black phantasms rose before her from the depths of the waters to trace in her fair brow the deep furrows with which it was corrugated? What deathly secrets whispered the breeze in her ear?

Ah! easier were it to unriddle the mystery in the murmurs of the ocean and the secrets of the breeze than the vague thoughts hidden behind a maiden's brow!

The ocean at that moment seemed full of peace and gentleness. The sun was just about submerging his heated face in the crystal of the waters, but still lighted up a few places in the vast plain with a fantastic, gilded light, leaving others in the shade. The murmurs were heavier and deeper, of an infinite melancholy; that measureless mass of water was slowly losing its azure hue and changing to another, of very opaque green, sown here and there with fleeting reflections. The melancholy ease with which the sea took leave of the light made a deep impression upon Marta. With her head leaned over the water, and with dreamy eyes, she watched the most delicate tints which the light was awakening in it, and listened to the murmurs which resounded in the depths.

The falúa, when it pressed up against his humid shoulder, made between bow and stern a broad, comfortable couch, with foamy edges, a couch where one might sleep eternally with face turned toward the sky, watching through the transparent bosom of the water the flashing of the stars.

————

"Heavens!... What was that?"

"Who has fallen overboard?"

"Daughter of my heart!... Marta!... Marta! Let go of me!... Let me save my daughter!"

"She is already safe, Don Mariano; there is no need of you wetting yourself."

"Back water! Back water! Steady!..." said the captain's rough voice. "Fling that line, Manuel.... Don't be alarmed, ladies; it is nothing at all.... Back water! Weigh all.... Lay hold, all of you, on that line. There is nothing to worry about."

Martita had fainted away. Various ladies hastened to loosen her clothing and shake her violently to rid her of the water which she had swallowed. Then they laid her down on one of the seats on the deck, and Ricardo, taking a bottle of salts which Don Maximo had brought with him, applied it to her nostrils. She soon opened her eyes and, on seeing the young man's solicitous face leaning over her, she smiled sweetly, and said to him, so that no one else could hear:—"Thanks, señor marqués!... It is not so bad down below there."

"Eeeeeh?" shouted the chorus, dwelling on the vowel.

"Yes," replied the unhappy Don Serapio.

The reply was received with tumult and delight, making the proprietor of the canning factory tremble in his shoes. Next they agreed upon asking him if he had any intention of getting married. "No" was his unhesitating reply. "Bravo, bravo!" shouted the men.

"What a stony-hearted man!" cried the women.

One of the young fellows proposed that they should ask him if he still had a fondness for chamber-maids. The ladies wanted to oppose this, but there was no remedy.

"Eeeeeh?"

"Yes."

Great laughter and applause in the group. The same malevolent young fellow proposed something even worse: "to ask him if he intended to give any of his children a profession." The ladies seriously objected to this question, and another was given in its place. And thus they continued until he had said the three yeses and the three noes required by the game, and then, greatly despondent, he came to find out what the questions had been.

It came Rosarito's turn to act the sultana. The dandified young fellow with the hair over his forehead, placed a chair in the middle of the room and seated her in it: then he spread before her a velvet cushion. The young men of the tertulia, like genuine Moors, began to march before her, bending their knees in her presence and waiting humbly for her choice. Rosarito, with the notable ability which all women have for playing queen, rejected them one after the other with a gesture of sovereign disdain. Only when the young fellow of the mazurkas came by, and tremblingly bent low at her feet, the beautiful but ferocious sultana deigned to hand him the handkerchief which she held in her hand and to select him as her lover, as a just reward for his most distinguished neckties and his no less exceptional chaquets! Then the two marched in a triumphal procession to the harem; or, what amounts to the same thing, they walked twice around the parlor, and sat down on the sofa where they had been before.

Don Mariano's friends looked at each other in amazement.

"What are those soldiers going to do at this time o' day?" asked one lady.

"I don't understand where they are going," replied Don Mariano. "To get to the interior of the province, even though they came from the West, there is no need of their going through here; they have the valley of Cañedo, and that is a much shorter road."

"This very day I was calling on the captain," said Don Maximo, "and he did not say a single word to me of the coming of these companies."

"I didn't know it, either," said the Señor de Ciudad. "The most likely thing is that they are on the march, and are only going to spend the night here, and start off again in the morning."

"It's a strange thing," added Don Mariano, "but of course it may be—it may be."

"Ah, if you had heard the fourth act of Les Huguenots! What dramatic music! How expressive! It makes the hair stand on end! How magnificent this duet is: La—sciami—paar—tiiir—la—sciami—paar—tiiiir—riira—riri—riri—ra—rōōō—riri—ra—rōō—laaa—tō—rii—ro—ra—"

"But could you ever hear anything sweeter than the concerted piece in Somnambula beginning, Tōōō—ra—ri—rō—ra—rōōōō—laa—riii—rōō—raa—rōra—rōōō,—rii—ra—ri—rōō?"

"Impossible! impossible!" said several at once.

"Above all, Italian music stirs the heart, while German music only deafens you," added the Señorita de Delgado.

"That's true," affirmed her sister, the widow.

"I believe," continued the señorita, "that the object of music is to move ... to elevate the soul ... to cause us to shed tears ... to transport us to ideal regions far away from the prosaic world in which we live.... For the truth is that prose is getting such control over society that soon it will seem ridiculous to speak of things which are not material and sordid."

"Certainly," affirmed the widow again.

"Music follows the road of prose like everything else.... Don't you hear what silly things they sing nowadays? what insipid, popular airs? And you are lucky if it isn't some indecent piece from some opera bouffe! In songs love is not mentioned; there are only phrases with double meanings hiding some nastiness."

"No, señor ... don't you believe it.... In days gone by I used to sing some ... but I have forgotten them...."

"For my part," persisted the youth, with a deeply diplomatic smile,—"and I think the same may be said of all these people—it would give the greatest pleasure if you would search into your memory and let us listen to some.... Isn't it so, friends?"

"Yes, yes, Margarita, sing something, for Heaven's sake!"

"But supposing I don't remember anything!"

"Nonsense! it will come back to you.... If you once begin, you will find yourself gradually remembering it."

"It seems to me impossible.... Besides I always accompanied myself with the guitar."

"Isn't there a guitar in the house?" quickly asked the youth, jumping up from his chair.

"Bravo, bravo!"—"How pretty!"—"How sweet!"—"How melancholy!"—"Go on, Margarita, do go on!" The Señorita de Delgado continued in this way:—

The parlor door was thrown violently open, and the eyes of the bystanders turned toward it, saw with surprise the pale face of a servant, who addressed his master, saying,—

"Señor! Señor!"

"What is the trouble?" asked Don Mariano, in the energetic tone customary to high-strung natures, when they suspect danger.

"The soldiers are here!"

"And what have I to do with soldiers, you dolt!" replied the master in an angry voice.

"Th-they're c-come to arrest you!"

"It isn't true!" cried a voice from the hall.

And at the same time six or eight figures filled the doorway behind the servant. The first to be seen were a very young officer in undress uniform, and a caballero, not very well favored, in a tight-buttoned great-coat, and holding in his hand a staff with tassels. Behind them were seen the caps and the muskets of several soldiers. The man with the staff, who was apparently the one who had spoken, advanced two steps into the parlor, and without removing his hat asked Don Mariano sharply,—

"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?"

"First of all, take off your hat!"

The man with the staff, somewhat bluffed by Don Mariano's attitude and the looks of the company, took off his sombrero.

"Now, what is your business?"

"Are you Don Mariano Elorza?"

"No! I am the excelentísimo señor Don Mariano Elorza!"

"It's the same thing."

"It is not the same thing!"

"Well, let us drop discussions; I have orders to arrest your daughter, Doña Maria."

All the Señor de Elorza's energy suddenly vanished like a shadow, at hearing those portentous words. He stood a few moments bewildered and petrified, with his face crestfallen, like one who has just beheld a miracle and has no faith in his own eyes. Then suddenly recovering himself, he sprang at the man with the staff, and shaking him violently by the lappel of his coat, he said to him in a voice of thunder,—

"And who are you, insolent man, to dare think of such a thing?"

"But it cannot be," thundered Don Mariano again, holding his daughter back. "This man is crazy or has come to the wrong place."

"Are you ready to go with me?" asked the comisario of the young woman.

"Yes, señor," was her firm reply.

"Then come along."

"Don Mariano hid his face in his hands, and exclaimed with a cry of agony,—

"Daughter of my heart, what have you been doing?"

One morning when the young Marqués de Peñalta awoke earlier than usual, noticing from the window of his room that the sky was clear (contrary to its time-honored custom), he felt an inclination to take a walk in the environs of the town, and making the thought father to the act, he hastily dressed and went down into the street in search of pure air; but before he left the inner town, as he was passing the Elorza mansion, he accidentally met Maria going to church with her maid. His heart gave a leap, and, somewhat agitated, he stopped to salute her. The girl met him with that gay, blithesome gesture, full at once of mischievousness and candor which was peculiar to her nature, and therefore impossible to overcome by any force.

"You have got up early—to hear mass, I suppose?"

"Oh no," replied Ricardo with a smile; "I was going to take a walk in the country, as it must be very lovely now."

Lucky Ricardo! what better could he desire at that moment than to see himself captured in such a lovely way? He could not say a word during the first few moments. Emotion overmastered him, and a tear slid down his honest, manly face.

"Oh, Maria, if you knew how happy you make me!" he said to her in a low, trembling voice. "If you wanted to take me with you, where would I not go? You cannot comprehend how I long for you to speak with me, to smile on me, to lead me. I try eagerly to find ways to please you, and I don't find them. Tell me how I can cause you any pleasure, how I can melt the ice which is destroying our love, and I will try to do it, even if it should cost me my life. If I did not love you more than any other being in this world, and also as the blessed remembrance of my mother, how long ago I should have left you forever!... But my love is of such a nature, it is so strong, so eager, so absorbing, that it has succeeded in disarming all my pride ... and I fear that it has got the better of my dignity," he added in a low tone.

The young woman looked at him steadily, full of delight and admiration of such sincere affection, and she replied gayly,—

"At present you can please me by going to mass with me; will you?"

"Yes, dear."

"Yes, loveliest, I ask nothing better."

"You don't know how you rejoice me, Ricardo!"

"Truly?"

"Yes, I love you dearly, but I want you to be good and religious, because, before everything else we ought to think of our salvation, and make it our richest possession in this world."

"Listen Maria.... You know well that I am not, and have never been an unbeliever.... It is true I have looked with a certain coolness on religious practices, but you ought to know just as well that this is a common fault among young men, and particularly among the military.... As for the rest, I tell you with all the sincerity of my soul, I have never abandoned the faith which my sainted mother taught me in childhood.... Even now ring in my ears her counsels, and still I can repeat without mistake, the multitude of prayers which she made me say on my knees on the bed, when I retired.... That cannot be forgotten, Maria.... It would be infamous if one forgot it! To-day the same counsels are repeated by lips that I worship.... How could you think that a religion always inculcated by the beings whom I have most loved and respected in my life, should not be sweet!... Yes, my loveliest, I am religious by birth and by conviction, and I hope to be still more fervently so by your aid.... Tell me what you desire me to do in this regard, and I will do it.... Tell me what thoughts you wish me to think, and I will think them!... I am all yours, body and soul...."

Ricardo's emotion and ardor received from these words a dash of cold water, but they were strong enough to persist without diminution, and they still kept control of his heart until they reached the portico of the church. Then Maria, taking the holy water, and offering it to him with the tips of her fingers, said:—

"Now you must stay under the choir to hear the mass; I am going up to the altar. Be careful not to look for me a single time! You must understand that this would be to profane the sanctuary, and in such a case it would be better for you not to come in."

"No, I will not look at you, though it will be very hard work."

"Give me your word that you won't."

"I give it."

"You have given me the greatest pleasure of my life, Ricardo," she said as they went out of the church.

The young marquis smiled beatifically, and replied in a whisper,—

"Do you love me more now?"

They waited till the morrow, and then Maria told him without hesitation that his virtuous conduct inspired her with more and more love, and that he must not faint in the way if he desired to see himself always loved. Ricardo had no other thought than this, and he found so much to delight him in this new state of affairs that for no earthly advantage would he consent to change it. Thus, then, each day he kept on with greater resolution in the path which his betrothed laid out for him, and paid no heed to the chaffing of his companions of the factory, since it was difficult to catch sight of him anywhere else except at home, at Don Mariano's, or at church.

"You have converted me into a beato!" he said sometimes to Maria, as a sort of affectionate reproach.

"Why? are you getting tired of it, you rogue?"

"No, dear, no; I am happy enough because thus I have conquered your love...."

"Is that the only reason?"

" ...And because I like to lead this better regulated and sober life."

"That is a different thing!"