By the
Virgin of Guadalupe! I have had my reward," he said, lifting
the Senora's hand and kissing it.
"But, then, even you are in danger."
"Si! If I am discovered; but, blessed be the hand of God!
Luis Alveda knows where he is going, and how to get there."
"I have heard," said the Senora in a hushed voice, "that there
are to be no prisoners. That is Santa Anna's order."
"I heard it twenty days ago, and am still suffocating over
it."
"Ah, Luis, you do not know the man yet! I heard Fray Ignatius
say that."
"We know him well; and also what he is capable of"; and Luis
plucked his mustache fiercely, as he bowed a silent farewell
to the ladies.
"Holy Maria! How brave he is!" said Isabel, with a flash of
pride that conquered her desire to weep. "How brave he is!
Certainly, if he meets Santa Anna, he will kill him."
They went very quietly up-stairs. The Senora was anticipating
the interview she expected with Rachela, and, perhaps wisely,
she isolated herself in an atmosphere of sullen and haughty
silence. She would accept nothing from her, not even sympathy
or flattery; and, in a curt dismission, managed to make her
feel the immeasurable distance between a high-born lady of the
house of Flores, and a poor manola that she had taken from
the streets of Madrid. Rachela knew the Senora was thinking
of this circumstance; the thought was in her voice, and it
cowed and snubbed the woman, her nature being essentially as
low as her birth.
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