Ella vierte la copa de amargura Gota, gota en mi pobre corozon. CHAPTER XVII That same evening a gay party from the south rode along the sea to San Juan Capistrano. Dona Maria and Don Eduardo rode in a carriage, but the Dona Angela had received riding lessons from Rafael, and disdained now the lounging ease of the cushioned seats. She and Rafael galloped far ahead at times, and then loitered idly among the odorous grasses and chaparral, and watched the waves roll in, and said the gay, foolish things that sometimes mean only courtesy, and sometimes mean the ripples of thought fringing pools of unsounded depths. There was little doubt of the quality of Rafael's thought. Whatever it had been in the commencement, there was little now within his power to accomplish which he would not have done at the bidding of her smiling childish lips. "If we had a boat out there where the whitecaps are, we could go even faster than the horses," she was saying. "I always wanted a boat; I always wanted to live near the ocean, if only the right people could be with me." "You shall have a boat, any day you want it," he said, eagerly. "They make them at San Pedro; that is not far to send. A boat, and a house by the sea! Why not wish for a more difficult thing? Would you like that bluff above the river's mouth? Or Dana's Point, beyond there? You could watch the whales spouting from the quay, and all the sea and valley could be yours at a glance, and--" "And a fine view, also, of your monastery walls, far, far away, Don Rafael." "I should never be far away, only as far as you bid me go." "Ah! that sounds very submissive," she replied; "but you are not really so, not really. I--I want to say to you that my cousin's wife reproves me for your--your--" Her hesitation was very pretty. It delighted the man, who caught her hand and kissed it. "My--my--you can find no word, madama, for my madness; is that it?" he asked, softly. "You are right; there are no words ever coined to cover it. I make myself a carpet for your feet, mi corazon!" "I don't want a carpet for my feet,--at least I think I do not," she said, doubtfully, "not in the face of all the frowns of California; and we perhaps go to-day where we see many frowns from my cousin. She says she may not visit your wife. Why?" "Perhaps she does not like a home where there are endless prayers," he said, briefly; "but, such as it is, it is for you, madama. You would light up even the shadows there. As for the Dona Maria, she is--ah, well, she is old, and forgets many things. She has had her own romances, and they should teach her charity! The plans she makes in San Diego and on the road are all right for those places, but when we reach San Juan you all go to my home. I sent word ahead." "Your wife expects us to-night?" "She does not know what night, or what day, but she will expect you."