"But why should I complain? Ought it not always to be so? Woman is born to love, as the bird is to fly in the air. Love, my poor, dear child; for love constitutes a woman's entire life, for it enables her to learn joy and sorrow." Her voice gradually grew weaker, and these words were spoken indistinctly. There was a rather long silence, which the girl did not venture to disturb by an indiscreet question. Respecting the sorrowful reverie into which her mother had fallen, her eyes were fixed more attentively on the courtyard. All at once she started. "Ah!" she said, at once glad and troubled, "Here is Don Melchior." "What did you say, Niña?" her mother asked, raising her head eagerly. "I think you mentioned the name of Don Melchior?" "Yes, I did, mother," she answered timidly. "Well, what did you say about him?" "Nothing, mother, except that I just saw him in the yard, and I think he is coming here." "He will be welcome, for I am anxiously expecting him. So soon as he comes in, Niña, you will be good enough to retire to your bedroom, and not come back till I call you. I have important matters to discuss with this young man, which it is unnecessary for you to hear." "You shall be obeyed, mother," the young lady said as she rose. "I hear his footstep in the corridor, so I will withdraw, for he will be here directly." "Go, my child; I shall soon recall you." The girl bent over her mother, whose forehead she kissed, and ran away, light as a bird, at the moment when two raps on the door announced a visitor. Doña Emilia waited till the door of her daughter's bedroom was closed, and then cried, "Come in!" The door swung back slowly on its hinges, and Melchior appeared. So soon as the young man entered the room he doffed his hat, and walked respectfully toward Doña Emilia, who, without leaving her seat by the window, half turned and made him a sign to approach. "You did me the honour of sending for me, madam," he said, as he stopped three or four yards from Doña Emilia. "Yes, caballero," she replied. "You know that I have been absent from the hacienda for several days, and only returned a few hours ago; consequently I am ignorant of all that is going on, and thought you could give me the information I desire." "You know, madam, that I am completely at your service for anything you may please to order." "I doubt neither your courtesy nor your devotion, Don Melchior, and I think I have given you sufficient proof of that." "Madam," the young man answered warmly, "your kindness to me has known no bounds. I feel for you the veneration I should have for a mother, for you have acted as such to me." "I did what my religion commanded for an abandoned orphan. But enough on this head: tell me what there is new at the hacienda."