"It is not a joke, it is pure truth, and if you want convincing you can see for yourself."
Then she drew from her bosom a letter which she had ready, and handed it to her mother; whereupon Doña Paula sprang to her feet and cried:
"Quick! a light, quick!"
Venturita took a box of tapers that was on the table, and lighted one.
Mother and daughter were pale. The mother held the letter to the light, and after reading a few lines she dropped into an armchair, and fixing her eyes on her daughter with a sad expression, she said:
"Ventura, what have you done?"
"I? Nothing," returned the girl, letting the taper, which was nearly burnt out, fall to the floor.
"Is it then nothing to you, you heartless, mad creature, to prevent the marriage of your sister, to deceive her so abominably and to give rise to such a scandal in the town as never was seen?"
"I have not done all this. He was the one to declare himself to me. Is it then a sin to be loved?"
"On this occasion, yes," replied the señora severely; "at the first sign you ought to have told me. To allow him to speak to you in any other way than as to a sister was treachery to your sister, and does little credit to yourself."