"Ah! madame," I cried, "a face so fair as yours needs not the championship of one English stranger, who holds already a preference for blue eyes and yellow hair. I grant you that he has a sorry taste; but oh! I pray you, stop this duel!" She loosed her hand from the clasp of mine, and looked at me a moment in silence; then she laughed bitterly. "Thou little fool! Thou little blue-eyed fool! What do men see in that face of thine to move them so? A painter might love thee for the gold of thy hair, thy white brow, and thy blue eyes,--they would grace a pictured saint above a shrine,--but for a man's kisses, and such love as might tempt him to risk his very life for thee,--_cielos_! it is more than passing strange." Then, as I stood dumb before her, she tapped me lightly on the cheek. "Go to! Art such a fool as to think that _either_ sword will be drawn for _my_ beauty's sake?" CHAPTER VIII. That night I had but little sleep. About an hour after midnight there was a great stir in the house and the sound of opening doors and hurrying footsteps. The unwonted noises terrified me. I leaned against the door, with a heart beating thickly, and I listened. What evil tidings did those sounds portend? There was a loud outcry in a woman's voice,--the voice of Dona Orosia. I felt that I must know what havoc Fate had wrought in the last hours. I looked at Barbara--she slumbered peacefully on her hard pallet; the moonlight, streaming through the barred window, showed me her withered face relaxed in almost childlike peacefulness. I would not rouse her,--'twas a blessed thing to sleep and forget; but _I_ dared not sleep, for I knew not what would be the horror of my waking. With my cheek pressed close against the door I waited a moment longer. Perhaps only those planks intervened 'twixt me and my life's tragedy! I laid my hand upon the latch. I feared to know the truth,--and yet, if I did not hear it, I must die of dread. Slowly I turned the key and raised the bars: the door swung open. I stepped out upon the balcony that overhung the court and I looked over. There was no one in sight; the white moonlight lay over everything, and a strong perfume floated up from the flowers in the garden beyond. I crept down the stair and stood still in the centre of the empty court. Voices sounded near me, but I knew not whence they came. Trembling still, I moved toward the passage that led to the outer door, and I saw that it was bright as day. The door stood ajar. Those who had last gone out had been strangely forgetful--or greatly agitated. Scarce knowing what I did, I crossed the threshold and hurried down the street in the direction of the fort. A group of three men stood upon the corner. At the sight of them I paused and hid in the shadow of the wall; but, one of them turning his face toward me, I recognized Captain Baulk, and, going quickly forward, I laid my hand upon his arm. "How is he? Where have they taken him?" I whispered.