I
am speaking to a gentleman who, with the instincts and chivalrous
obligations of his order, must sympathize with my own delicacy in coming
to this conclusion, and who will not take advantage of my confession
that I do it with pain."
She spoke with a dry alacrity and precision so unlike her usual languor
and the suggestions of the costume, and even the fan she still kept
shading her faintly glowing eyes, that the man before her was more
troubled by her manner than her words, which he had but imperfectly
understood.
"You will leave here--this house?" he stammered.
"It is necessary," she returned.
"But you shall listen to me first!" he said hurriedly. "Hear me, Dona
Barbara--I have a secret--I will to you confess"--
"You must confess nothing," said Mrs. Brimmer, dropping her feet from
the hammock, and sitting up primly, "I mean--nothing I may not hear."
The Alcalde cast a look upon her at once blank and imploring.
"Ah, but you will hear," he said, after a pause. "There is a ship
coming here. In two weeks she will arrive. None know it but myself, the
Comandante, and the Padre. It is a secret of the Government. She will
come at night; she will depart in the morning, and no one else shall
know.
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