"Well, Nani, you know best," agreed Verona, with a sigh. "Come, Johnny!" Johnny, the squirrel, who was playing among the trellis work with some young friends, gave a whisk to his tail, and darted down to his owner, ran up her extended arm and nestled to her cheek. When the poor girl's heart ached very badly, Johnny's soft caresses and adoring friendship seemed somehow to deaden the pain. Johnny was now a pretty little fellow, though smaller than his cousins, who flocked round the verandah. He associated with them--and he wished them to associate with Verona. On many an occasion she had entered her room, and found a dozen squirrels on her dressing-table! (Johnny's home was in a drawer, an old ramshackle drawer, which had a hole at the back; here he crept in and slept comfortably among her gloves and handkerchiefs--his nest was in a red silk necktie.) He frequently entertained company before the mirror, and no doubt his relations were delighted with his residence, but the instant his lady appeared, they scampered out. Once Johnny had been absent for a whole day, but honourably returned at nightfall, and when Verona heard him pattering in, she felt a thankfulness out of all proportion to the occasion. She loved Johnny, and could not bear to lose him. As she stroked his fur now, there was a long silence--she was thinking of Malcolm Haig's face as she had last seen it. She was firmly persuaded that she would never look upon it again. She had been mad to harbour hopes of release. "See--see, Verona," said her grandmother, "I have dropped two--three stitches. Child, has it seemed to you that there is a change in Dominga?" "No, Nani." "Well, she has got a lover, or else I am an old fool." "What makes you think so?" "Many little things. She is quiet, she no longer squabbles--her thoughts are enough--they are pleasant. She dresses herself for hours--she writes much--she sees us no more, she is in another world with her secret. Oh, it is a big one--can you guess?" "No; as far as I have seen, Dominga has many admirers, and one--who is more--little Mr. Young--but she does not care for him. Dominga is always reserved and mysterious--she likes having secrets." "Perhaps she is wise! You know the proverb: 'Never make known one's wealth, one's remedies, one's lover, where one has hidden money, the good works one does, the insults one has received, or the debts one has contracted.'" "Dominga makes known her debts, Nani--she owes two hundred rupees in the bazaar, and is at her wits' end." "Chitt! she will coax her mother, and she will pay," rejoined Mrs. Lopez, with an air of easy confidence; "and here is Rosa coming back. My, my, what parcels! Oh, she has been spending a lot of money!" adding, with a laugh, "she will be _so_ cross!"