The Marquis of Elda entered, and became a witness of this charming family tableau.
“Papa Marquis,” said the child, “to-morrow we all depart.”
“Truly?” asked the marquis of his daughter.
“Yes, my father, and our happiness will be complete if you come with us.”
“My father,” said the duke, “can you refuse any thing to your daughter, who would be a saint, if she were not an angel?”
The marquis looked at his daughter, whose face was radiant with happiness; then at the duke’s, whose ecstasy was visible. A sweet smile illuminated his countenance, naturally austere, and, taking the hand of the duke, he said to him—
“Since I am necessary to complete your happiness, count on me.”
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE state of the Gaviota, already ill before she went to take supper with Pepe Vera, was made sensibly worse, and on the morrow she was seized with a violent fever.
“Marina,” she said to her maid, after an agitated sleep, “call my husband; I do not feel well.”