circumstance, which, however is of some importance to you; your servants and all your baggage have been at the hacienda for the last two days."
"But how were my servants informed?"
"I warned them."
"You have hardly left me."
"That is true, only for a few minutes, but that was sufficient."
"You are an amiable companion, Mr. Oliver, I thank you sincerely for all your attentions to me."
"Nonsense, you are joking."
"Do you know the owner of this hacienda?"
"Don Andrés de la Cruz? Very well."
"What sort of man is he?"
"Morally or physically?"
"Morally."
"A true hearted and intelligent man, he does a great deal of good, and is accessible to the poor as well as the rich."
"Hum! You are drawing a magnificent portrait."
"It is below the truth; he has a great many enemies."
"Enemies?"
"Yes, all the scoundrels in the country, and thanks to God, they swarm in this blessed country."
"And his daughter, Dolores?"
"Is a delicious girl of sixteen, even better hearted than she is beautiful, innocent and pure; her eyes reflect heaven, she is an angel whom God has allowed to descend on earth, doubtless to shame human beings."
"You will accompany me to the hacienda, sir, I suppose?" said the Count.
"No, I shall not see Señor don Andrés; in a few minutes I shall have the honour of taking leave of you."
"To meet again soon, I hope!"
"I dare not promise it you, my lord."
They rode on silently, side by side, for a few moments longer.
They had hurried on their horses, and were now rapidly nearing the hacienda, whose buildings now appeared in their full extent.
It was one of those magnificent residences built in the earliest times of the conquest, half palace, half fortress, such as the Spaniards erected at that day on their estates, in order to hold the Indians in check, and resist their attacks during the numerous revolts which left a bloody stain on the first years of the European invasion.
The almanas, or battlements that crowned the walls, testified to the nobility of the owner of the hacienda; as gentlemen alone possessed the right of placing battlements on their mansions, and were very jealous of their right.
The dome of the hacienda chapel which rose above the walls, could be seen glistening in the ardent sunbeams.
The nearer the travellers approached, the more lively the landscape appeared; at each instant they met horsemen, arrieros with their mules. Indians running with burdens hanging on their back by a thong passed round their forehead. Then came herds, driven by vaqueros, to change their pasturage, monks trotting on mules, women, children, in a word busy persons of all ranks and sexes, who were coming and going, and crossing each other in all directions.
When they reached the foot of the hill crowned by the hacienda, the adventurer stopped his horse at the moment when it was entering the path that led to the main gate of the hacienda.
"My lord," he said, turning to the young man, "we have now reached our journey's end; permit me to take my leave of you."
"Not before you have promised to see me again."
"I cannot promise that, Count, as our roads are diametrically opposite. Besides, it will perhaps be better if we never meet again."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing insulting or personal to you; permit me to shake your hand ere we part."
"Oh, most willingly," the young man exclaimed, as he warmly offered him his hand.
"And now farewell – farewell, once again, time flies rapidly, and I ought to have been a long way from here before now."
The adventurer bent over his horse's neck, and darted with the speed of an arrow along a track in which he speedily disappeared.
The Count looked after him as long as it was possible to see him; and when he was hidden by a turn in the road, the young man heaved a sigh.
"What a singular character," he muttered in a low voice. "Oh! I shall see him again, it must be."
The young man lightly gave his horse the spur, and entered the path, which would lead him in a few minutes to the top of the hill, and the principal gate of the hacienda.
The young man dismounted in the first courtyard, and handed his horse to a groom, who led it away.
At the moment when the Count was walking towards a large door surmounted by a verandah, and which gave admission to the apartment, Don Andrés went out, ran eagerly toward him, pressed him warmly to his heart, and embraced him several times, while saying, —
"Heaven be praised! Here you are, at last! We were beginning to be in a mortal anxiety about you."
The Count, thus suddenly taken by surprise, had allowed himself to be seized and embraced without exactly comprehending what was happening to him, or with whom he had to deal; but the old gentleman, perceiving the amazement he felt, and which, in spite of his efforts, he could not succeed in completely concealing, did not leave him long in embarrassment, but stated his name, adding —
"I am your near relative, my dear Count – your cousin; hence, stand on no ceremony – act here as if you were at home: this house, with all it contains, is at your disposal, and belongs to you."
The young man began protesting, but Don Andrés once more interrupted him.
"I am an old fool," he said. "I am keeping you here, listening to my maundering, and forget that you have had a long ride, and must need rest. Come, I wish to have the pleasure of conducting you myself to your apartments, which have been ready for you for some days past."
"My dear cousin," the Count answered; "I thank you a thousand times for your kind attention; but I think it would be only polite for you to introduce me to Doña Dolores, ere I retire."
"There is no hurry for that, my dear Count: my daughter is at this moment shut up in her boudoir with her women. Let me announce you first, for I know better than you what is proper under the circumstances, – and go and rest yourself."
"Very well, my cousin; I will follow you. I will indeed confess, since you are so good as to place me so thoroughly at my ease, that I shall not be at all sorry to take a few hours' rest."
"Did I not know it?" Don Andrés replied, gaily; "But all young people are the same – they doubt nothing."
The hacendero thereupon led his guest to the apartments which had been tastefully prepared and furnished under the immediate inspection of Don Andrés, and were intended to serve as the Count's abode during the whole of the period he might be pleased to spend at the hacienda.
The suite of rooms, though not large, was arranged in a very sensible and comfortable manner, considering the resources of the country.
It consisted of four rooms. The Count's bedroom, with dressing room and bathroom attached, a study, serving as a drawing room, an antechamber, and a room for the Count's valets; so that he might have them within call by day and night.
By means of a few partitions, the suite bad been separated from and rendered entirely independent of the other apartments in the hacienda. It was entered by three doors, one opening on the vestibule, the second into the common court yard, and the third leading by a flight of steps to the magnificent huerta, which, through its extent, might pass for a park.
The Count, newly landed in Mexico, and who, like all foreigners, formed a false idea of a country which he did not know, was far from expecting to find at the Hacienda del Arenal a lodging so convenient, and in such conformity with his rather serious tastes and habits, hence he was really ravished by everything he saw. He warmly thanked Don Andrés for the trouble he had been kind enough to take in rendering