"Quick," whispered Rafaela to Jack, "get under here."
Rising, she seized him by an arm and partly led, partly pushed him to the chair upon which she had been sitting. It was a wicker chair, with wicker-latticed sides extending clear to the floor. Lifting it, she ordered Jack to kneel down and crouch into as small a space as possible. He complied. Then she clapped the chair over him. He was completely hidden, except in front, where the wicker latticing did not extend.
Seating herself calmly in the chair, Rafaela so disposed her skirts that Jack could not be seen. Then she picked up her pen and sat as if just interrupted at her writing.
The knocking on the door was repeated, louder this time, and the voice of the Don himself impatiently bade that the door be opened.
Bending low so that Jack could hear her words, the girl whispered:
"Have no fear. Trust me."
To the duenna, she said:
"Open the door. And if you betray me——"
And she shot at Donna Ana a terrible glance, which caused the latter to cringe. Evidently, the duenna stood in considerable awe of her temperamental young mistress.
The old woman unlocked the door and stepped back, revealing on the threshold Don Fernandez with several armed retainers at his back.