The child asked leave to prepare her conjurations for the last token.
It was D'Alvimar's pebble.
But in order that the reader may understand what follows, it is necessary that he should know what Pilar and her master, La Flèche, had agreed upon.
What La Flèche knew and wished to impart to Bois-Doré, he expected to have the child divulge when D'Alvimar was not present. The child, from caprice and vanity, refused to adhere to the agreement made between them. She insisted upon reciting her whole lesson, even though she had to suffer for it, and though La Flèche might lose his life or his liberty.
It may be that these perils, in which, as she well knew, she could involve him, sharpened her instincts of hate.
So she spoke as she chose, despite the warning gestures and grimaces of her master, who could say nothing to her in Spanish which D'Alvimar would not understand.
She picked up the stone, examined the signs that surrounded it, pretended to make a computation, and said in Spanish, threateningly and with appalling vehemence:
"Woe and disgrace to him whose token fell on the red star!"
"Bravo!" said D'Alvimar, with a nervous, forced laugh; "go on, filthy creature! Go on, go on, progeny of dogs, offscouring of the earth, tell us the decrees of heaven!"
Pilar, angered by these insults, became so wild that she terrified all who saw her, even La Flèche himself.