“No, señor! If you will recollect, I applied several times to go, but on each occasion you had important letters or despatches to write.” “Did you hear from home before we sailed?” and the count’s look became intensely riveted upon him. The young man slightly colored, “I heard indirectly, señor, that all were well.” “From whom?” “From a muleteer who resides in the adjoining village.” “Did he give you any particulars?” “None, señor, worth relating.” The count paused. He was dissatisfied, yet feared that by further questioning he might excite the very suspicions he wished to repress. Assuming a bland and conciliatory tone, he said, “I have been to blame, Gonzalez, and will make amends. When we reach port, you shall have ample opportunities to recruit on shore. Should you need funds, consider my purse at your service.” “Thanks, señor! my salary is more than sufficient for all my wants.” “Well, should you be in need, remember my offer; but come nearer, I have now something confidential to impart. You are aware that the lady brought on board last night is now in the after-cabin.” “I am, señor.” “One of the prisoners, doubtless an impostor, assumes that she is his betrothed. I wish you to see her and ascertain how she is affected toward him.” “It is needless, señor. At the invitation of Lieutenant Flores, I accompanied him in his boat last night, and in rescuing the prisoners from the wreck, witnessed how tenderly that lady clung to the man you speak of.” “It may have been the convulsiveness of fear!” “If so, señor, it would have subsided with the occasion that gave it birth; but it continued to the last, and while she evinced for the lad the solicitude of an elder sister, she seemed to regard the American as her chosen and sole protector.” “How were they separated?” “I understood, señor, by your orders,” replied the youth with an air of surprise. “I mean,” said the count, somewhat confused, “how did they bear it?” “He was at first disposed to resist, but a moment after submitted with an air of stern resignation.” “And she?” “She at first seemed bewildered, and could not comprehend the purport of the order; when she did so, she implored her lover, for such he must be, not to desert her, but after he had whispered a few words to her, she too submitted, and with such meek gentleness as moved the hardest hearts to sympathy.” “Sympathy,” exclaimed the count, reddening; “where there is no real distress, there can be no occasion for its exercise. In common humanity, I am bound to protect her from the acts of an impostor.” There was a slight twitch of the secretary’s upper lip, but he said nothing. “At all events, I wish you to converse with her, Gonzalez. Try if you cannot reconcile her to a short separation from her lover, and assure her that as soon as I am satisfied that he is what he represents himself, he shall be free.”