Lo?ck ended his narrative. The ranchero's story had been a long one. Don Jaime listened, to it from one end to the other without interruption, with a cold and impassive face, but with flashing eyes.

"Is that all?" he asked Lo?ck, turning to him.

"Yes, all, Excellency."

"In what way were you so well informed of the slightest details of this awful catastrophe?"

"It was Domingo himself who related the events to me; he was half mad with rage and grief, and knowing that I was going to you, he ordered me to repeat to you—"

Don Jaime sharply interrupted him.

"Very good; did Domingo give you no other message for me?" he asked, fixing on him a fiery glance.

The ranchero became confused.

"Excellency," he stammered.

"Confound the Briton," the adventurer exclaimed; "what cause have you to tremble so? Come, speak or choke."

"Excellency," he said resolutely, "I am afraid I have done a stupid thing."

"By Heaven! I suspected it, if only from your air of contrition. Well, what is this folly?"

"It is," he continued, "that Domingo appeared in such despair at not knowing where to find you—he seemed to have such a desire to speak to you, that—"

"That you could not hold your tongue, and revealed to him—"

"Where you live; yes, Excellency."

After this confession, the ranchero bowed his head, as if he felt inwardly convinced that he had committed a great fault. There was a silence.

"Of course you told him under what name I concealed myself in this house?" don Jaime continued a moment after.

"Hang it!" Lo?ck said simply, "if I had not done so he would have had a difficulty in finding you, Excellency."

"That is true; he is coming then?"

"I fear it."

"It is well."

Don Jaime walked up and down the room reflecting, then approaching Lo?ck, who was still motionless at his place, he asked him—

"Did you come alone to Mexico?"

"López accompanied me, Excellency; but I have left him at a pulquería near the Belén gate, where he is waiting for me."

"Good, you will join him there, but say nothing to him; in an hour, not sooner, you will return here with him, perhaps I shall want you both."

"Good," he said, rubbing his hands; "all right, Excellency, we shall come."

"Now, be off."

"Pardon, Excellency, I have a note to deliver to you."

"A note! From whom?"

Lo?ck felt in his dolman, drew out a carefully sealed letter, and handed it to don Jaime.

"Here it is," he said.

The adventurer took a glance at the address.

"Don Estevan!" he exclaimed with a cry of joy, and eagerly broke the seal.

The note, though short, was written in cypher—it was to the following effect:—

"Everything is going on admirably; our man is coming of his own accord to the bait held out to him. Saturday, midnight, Peral."

"Hope!" "Córdoba."

Don Jaime tore the note up into imperceptible pieces.

"What day is this?" he suddenly asked Lo?ck.

"Today?" he repeated, startled by this question, which he did not at all anticipate.

"Ass! I suppose I did not mean yesterday or tomorrow."

"That is true, Excellency—this is Tuesday."

"Why could you not say so at once?"

Don Jaime again walked up and down the room in deep thought.

"Can I go?" Lo?ck ventured.

"You ought to have gone ten minutes ago," he answered sharply.

The ranchero did not require a repetition of this injunction. He bowed, and retired. Don Jaime remained alone, but at the end of a minute the door opened, and the two ladies came in again. Their faces were anxious, and they timidly approached the adventurer.

"You have received bad news, don Jaime?" do?a María asked.

"Alas! Yes, sister," he answered, "very bad indeed." "May we hear it?"

"I have no reason for concealing it from you; and, besides, it concerns people whom you love."

"Heavens!" said do?a Carmen, clasping her hands, "Can it be Dolores?"

"Dolores—yes, my child," don Jaime answered; "Dolores, your friend; the Hacienda del Arenal has been surprised and burnt by the Juarists."

"Oh, Heavens!" the two ladies exclaimed sorrowfully; "Poor Dolores! And don Andrés?"

"He is dangerously wounded,"

"Thank God, he is not dead."

"He is not much better."

"Where are they at this moment?"

"Sheltered in Puebla, where they arrived under the escort of some of their peons, commanded by Leo Carral."

"Oh! He is a devoted servant."

"But had he been alone, I doubt whether he would have succeeded in saving his masters; fortunately don Andrés had at the hacienda two French gentlemen, the Count de la Saulay."

"The gentleman who is going to marry Dolores?" do?a Carmen said eagerly.

"Yes, and the Baron Charles de Meriadec, attaché to the French Embassy; it appears that these two young men performed prodigies of valour, and that it was through their bravery that our friends escaped the horrible fate which threatened them."

"May God bless them!" do?a María exclaimed; "Though I do not know them, I already feel an interest in them as if they were old friends."

"You will soon know one of them at least."

"Ah!" the young lady said curiously.

"Yes, I expect Baron de Meriadec at any moment."

"We will receive him to the best of our ability."

"I wish you to do so."

"But Dolores cannot remain in Puebla."

"That is my opinion. I intend to go to her."

"Why could she not come to us?" do?a Carmen said; "She would be in safety here, and her father should not want for a nurse."

"What you are saying, Carmen, is very judicious; perhaps it would be as well for her to live for some time with you. I will think over it; before all, I must see don Andrés, that I may convince myself of the state he is in, and whether he can be removed."

"Brother," do?a María observed, "I notice that you have told us about Dolores and her father, but you have not said a word about don Melchior."

Don Jaime's face suddenly grew dark at this remark, and his features were contracted.

"Can any misfortune have happened to him?" do?a María exclaimed.

"Would to Heaven it were so!" he replied with a sadness mingled with anger; "Never speak to me about that man—he is a monster."

"Great Heaven! You terrify me, don Jaime."

"I told you, I think, that the Hacienda del Arenal was surprised by the guerilleros."

"Yes," she said, quivering with emotion.

"Do you know who commanded the Juarists and served as their guide? Don Melchior de la Cruz."

"Oh!" the two ladies exclaimed in horror.

"Afterwards, when don Andrés and his daughter obtained permission to retire safe and sound to Puebla, a man laid a snare for them a short distance from the town, and treacherously attacked them: this man was once again don Melchior."

"Oh, this is horrible!" They said, as they hid their faces in their hands and burst into sobs.

"Is it not?" he continued; "The more horrible, as don Melchior had coldly calculated on his father's death, that he wished by a parricide to seize his sister's fortune, a fortune to which he had no claim, and which the approaching marriage of do?a Dolores will entirely strip from him, or, at least, he believed so."

"This man is a monster!" said do?a María.

The two ladies were terrified by this announcement. Their intimacy with the de la Cruz family was great, the two younger ladies having been almost brought up together; they loved each other like sisters, although though do?a Carmen was a little older than do?a Dolores, hence the news of the misfortune which had so suddenly burst on don Andrés filled them with grief. Do?a María warmly urged don Jaime to have don Andrés and his daughter conveyed to Mexico and lodged in her house, when do?a Dolores would find that care and consolation which she must need so greatly after such a disaster.

"I will see, I will strive to satisfy you," don Jaime replied; "still, I dare not promise you anything as yet. I intend to start this very day for Puebla, and if I were not expecting a visit from Baron de Meriadec I should set out at once."

"It would be the first time," do?a María said gently, "that I should see you leave us almost without regret."

Don Jaime smiled. At this moment they heard the outer gate opened, and a horse's hoofs re-echo in the zaguán.

"Here is the baron," said the adventurer, and he went to meet his visitor.

It was really Dominique. Don Jaime offered him his hand, and giving him a significant glance, said in French, which language the ladies spoke very well—

"You are welcome, my dear baron; I was impatiently expecting you."

The young man understood that he was to retain his incognito till fresh orders.

"I am really sorry at having kept you waiting, my dear don Jaime," he answered, "but............