"And what matters if I do not love him, so long as he loves me? Am I not soon to belong to him? And why, then, should I think different to what he does? No, no!" added the young girl, with that air of passionate devotion which the women of her country and race lavish without limits on those whom they love. At this moment, the sudden and unexpected strokes of the alarm-bell breaking upon their ears interrupted the dialogue between the two sisters, putting an end to a conversation which promised to engender ill-feeling between them--just as the same topic had already caused dissension in more than one family circle, breaking the nearest and dearest ties of friendship and kindred. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. THE INUNDATION. Just as Marianita was about to open the door and inquire the cause of the tumult, the _femme-de-chambre_ rushed into the room; and, without waiting to be questioned, cried out-- "_Ave Maria, senoritas! the inundation is coming_! A vaquero has just galloped in to say that the waters are already within a league or two of the hacienda!" "The inundation!" echoed both the sisters in a breath; Marianita repeating the sign of the cross, while Gertrudis bounded up from the _fauteuil_, and, gathering her long hair around her wrists, rushed towards the window. "_Jesus! senorita_," cried the waiting-maid, addressing herself to Gertrudis, "one would think you were going to leap down to the plain, as if to save some one in danger." "Don Rafael, God have pity on him!" exclaimed Gertrudis in a state of distraction. "Don Fernando!" cried Marianita, shuddering as she spoke. "The plain will soon be one great lake," continued the servant; "woe to them who may be caught upon it! But as for Don Fernando, you may make yourself easy, senorita. The vaquero who came in was sent by Don Fernando with a message to master, to say that he would be here in the morning in his boat." After delivering this intelligence the attendant retired, leaving the young girls once more alone. "In a boat!" exclaimed Marianita, as soon as the servant had gone out. "Oh, Gertrudis!" she continued, suddenly passing from sadness to a transport of joy, "won't that be delightful? We shall sail upon the water in our state barge crowned with flowers, and--" As Marianita turned round, her transport of frivolous egotism was suddenly checked, as she saw her sister, with her long dark tresses hanging dishevelled around her, kneeling in front of an image of the Madonna. Giving way to a feeling of reproach, she also knelt down and mingled her prayers with those of Gertrudis, while the alarm-bell continued to peal forth to the four quarters of the compass its notes of solemn and lugubrious import. "Oh, my poor Gertrudis!" said she, taking her sister's hand in her own, while her tears fell fast upon the glistening tresses; "pardon me if, in the fulness of my own joy, I did not perceive that your heart was breaking. Don Rafael--you love him then?"