Part 26 (1/2)
She turned criain, for just then a clatter of hoofs was heard approaching the house
”Mother of Heaven, save us!” she exclaimed in terror ”It is Don Hilario”
I quickly blew out the one candle burning di,” I said ”When all is quiet, after he has gone to his roo with apprehension and nestled close to me; while we both listened intently and heard Don Hilario unsaddle his horse, then going softly, whistling to himself, to his room
”Now he has shut himself up,” I said, ”and in a few minutes will be asleep When you think of that man whose persecutions have made your life a burden, so that you trelad that I have coly with you to-night but for one thing Do you think after what has passed that I could ever face your wife?”
”She will know nothing of what has passed, Demetria It would be dishonourable in me and a cruel injustice to you to speak to her of it
She elcome you as a dear sister and love you asyou are very unsubstantial and can be bloay like thistle-down And now that you have confessed sothat troubles my heart”
”What is it, Richard, tell ently
”Believe me, Demetria, I never had a suspicion that you loved me Yourago all about arded me as a friend and one you could trust If I have been , Demetria, if you have really felt a passion in your heart, then I shall have to la sorrow to you Will you not open your heart more to me and tell me frankly how it is with you?”
She caressed my hand in silence for a little while, and then answered, ”I think you were right, Richard Perhaps I am not capable of passion like some women I felt--I knew that you were reen tree in soht it would be pleasant to sit there always and forget the bitter years But, Richard, if you will always be my friend--my brother, I shall be more than content, and my life will seem different”
”Demetria, how happy you havenow, let us steal away and leave hirant that I may return so the shawl about her, I led her out, treading softly, and in a fewwatch beside the horses
I gladly let him assist Demetria to her seat on the side-saddle, for that was perhaps the last personal service he would be able to render her The poor old felloas crying, I believe, his utterance was so husky Before leaving I gave him on a scrap of paper my address in Montevideo, and bade him take it to Don Florentino Blanco with a request to write me a letter in the course of the next two or three days to inform me of Don Hilario's movements We then trotted softly away over the sward, and in about half an hour struck the road leading froht, scarcely pausing once fro that dark ride over a country utterly unknown to me I blessed the little witch Cleta; for never was there a ly roan that carried ht he seehway and rode across country in a north-westerly direction for a distance of eight or nine miles, for I was anxious to be far away fro people that use the we had breakfast at a _rancho,_ then rode on again till we ca on the slopes of a range of hills It was a wild, secluded spot, ater and good pasturage for the horses and pleasant shade for ourselves; so, after unsaddling and turning loose our horses to feed, we sat down to rest under a large tree with our backs against its portly trunk From our shady retreat we commanded a splendid view of the country over which we had been riding all the ues behind us, and while I s her attention to the beauty of that wide, sunlit prospect
”Do you know, Des co a history of s in the Banda Oriental, and I will call my book _The Purple Land;_ for what more suitable name can one find for a country so stained with the blood of her children? You will never read it, of course, for I shall write it in English, and only for the pleasure it will give to my own children--if I ever have any--at some distant date, when their little moral and intellectual stomachs are prepared for other food than milk But you will have a very i these last days we have been very much to each other And perhaps the very last chapter will recount this wild ride of ours together, flying froe far away beyond the hills and woods and the blue line of the horizon For e reach the capital I believe--I think--I know, in fact--”
I hesitated to tell her that it would probably be necessary for eround, I discovered that she was fast asleep
Poor Deht and alue had quite overcoainst the tree was uncoently down until it rested onher eyes with her ely worn and pallid in that keen noonday light, and, gazing on it while she slurief and anxiety she had endured down to that last pain of which I had been the innocent cause, I feltfor about two hours she ith a start, and was greatly distressed to learn that I had been supporting her all that tie seeue, but the tor apprehensions had very nearly vanished Out of the nettle Danger she had plucked the flower Safety, and now she could rejoice in its possession and was filled with new life and spirits The unaccustoe of scene, also had an exhilarating effect on mind and body A new colour ca of anxious days and sleepless nights faded away; she s journey, whether resting in the noonday shade or swiftly cantering over the green turf, I could not have had a e in her often made es of grief, and said that another life would st women” It was a co but affection But as I to do with her in the end? for I knew that my as most anxious to return without further delay to her own country; and yet it see to leave poor De her so ith ventured to speak to her on the subject At first she was depressed, but presently, recovering courage, she begged to be allowed to go with us to Buenos Ayres The prospect of being left alone was unendurable to her, for in Montevideo she had no personal friends, while the political friends of her fa in very close retirement Across the water she would be with friends and safe for a season from her dreaded enemy This proposal seemed a very sensible one, and relieved h it only served to remove my difficulty for a tiues from Montevideo, I found the house of a fellow-countryman named Barker, who had lived for many years in the country and had a wife and children We arrived in the afternoon at his estancia, and, seeing that De journey, I asked Mr Barker to give us shelter for the night Our host was very kind and pleasant with us, asking no disagreeable questions, and after a few hours' acquaintance, which made us quite intimate, I took hiood-hearted felloas, he at once offered to shelter her in his house until ed in Montevideo, an offer which was joyfully accepted
CHAPTER XXVIII
I was soon back in Montevideo after that When I bade Deood-bye she appeared reluctant to part withmy hand in hers for an unusual time For the first time in her life, probably, she was about to be left in the coers, and for many days past we had been much to each other, so that it was only natural she should cling toOnce e, reer would be over; still, however, she did not releaseand also flattering, but slightly inopportune, for I was anxious to be in the saddle and away Presently she said, glancing down at her rusty habilio to join you on board, then I ar about, Demetria!” I exclaimed
At once I called in our kind hostess, and when this serious o to Montevideo to procure the necessary outfit, a thing I had thought nothing about, but which had evidently been preying on Deth reached the little suburban retreat of e), Paquita and I acted for some ti after our long separation I had received no letters from her, and only two or three of the score I had written had reached their destination, so that we had ten thousand questions to ask and answers torohile she, poor darling! looked unusually pale, yet withal so beautiful that Iher, considered any other woave her a circu only a few matters I was in honour bound not to disclose
Thus, when I told her the story ofto betray Demetria's confidence; nor did I think it necessary to mention the episode of that wicked little sprite, Cleta; with the result that she was pleased at the chivalrous conduct I had displayed throughout the whole of that affair, and was ready to take Demetria to her heart
I had not been back twenty-four hours in Montevideo before a letter from the Lo left Demetria at some distance from the town The letter inforuessed that I had carried off his unhappy hter, and that no doubt was left in his mind when he discovered that, on the day I left the _estancia_, a person answering to my description in every particular had purchased a horse and side-saddle and had ridden off towards the _estancia_ in the evening My correspondent warned me that Don Hilario would be in Montevideo even before his letter, also that he had discovered so about my connection with the late rebellion, and would be sure to place the overnment, so as to have me arrested, after which he would have little difficulty in co Demetria to return to the _estancia_