"Now, my Daughter," said the Priest when Estrella and he were left alone, "I wish to say to you, privately, that you must, from this time on, avoid meeting Manuello in any way, both for yourself and also for the well-being of your good friend, Miss Ruth; the fellow is evil-minded, lately, and I believe would not stop at robbery or even, though I greatly regret to think so, murder," he uttered the dreadful word softly but emphatically, "if he believed that he would benefit by either crime and I must urge you not to allow him to come here to see you under any possible circumstances. As I said before, I can do what must be done as between your former family and yourself."
Estrella gladly acquiesced in this good judgment of Father Felix and agreed to do all in her power to avoid meeting Manuello which she had no desire, personally, to do, as she dreaded his protestations of love as much as she would have dreaded his anger for any other reason in the common affairs of daily life.
In a short time, Ruth returned, explaining that old Mage had, indeed, gone down to the village, though for what purpose she had been unable, so far, to discover: they, then, repaired to the library and carefully closed all doors and windows before Father Felix began to tell them what they were so anxious to hear.
"My dear Friends," he began, "the information that I have to impart to you is of a very delicate as well as secret nature and must be so regarded by both of you. Estrella, to you, especially, I wish to say that you must not, under any circumstances, breathe a single word of what I will say to you for it is of vital importance to the native land, as I believe, of all three of us. For I have reason to think that you, as well as Miss Ruth and myself, are an American. I know that all of your sympathies are with our native land, at least, and, in trusting you with this information, I am, in a measure, making you one of us in deed and in truth, whether you are so by reason of your birth or not. Before I go any further, I want your assurance of what I believe to be true."
He waited a moment for the girl to speak, then, seeing her evident embarrassment, he added, kindly:
"You need have no fear of either of us, Estrella. If you have friends in this wide world, you are with two of them at this moment."
At these earnest words, the expression of the girl's face changed somewhat and she replied to the implied interrogatory of the Priest:
"I, also, believe that I am an American, although I do not know anything of my own parentage beyond what my foster parents have told me. I do not even know," she blushed while she made the statement, "whether my father and mother had been married before my birth.... I have no means of finding out anything more of myself than that I am an honest girl and that I am deeply grateful to both you and Miss Ruth for your great kindness to me in my great sorrow. As far as my fealty to America is concerned," she ended, proudly, "I am as true to that great country as anyone who knows himself to be a citizen of it. I would, gladly, lay my feeble life upon the altar of what I believe to be my native land ... the United States of America."
She pronounced the words with reverence and bowed her head as if in prayer, so that Father Felix no longer hesitated, but proceeded, at once:
"At this moment, an American squadron is in Asiatic waters, ready to move, at the moment its Commander receives the cablegram from the President of our own country, against the Spaniard, almost on his own territory. By this move it is hoped to so cripple him that we, here, in Cuba, may, with the help of our soldiers and sailors, conquer and drive from the Island those who have so long usurped the places of great power among us."