"You see, madam, that you are the queen here."
Doña Concha drew from her bosom a letter written beforehand and unsealed, which she handed to him, with a smile on her lips, but trembling at her heart.
"Read, Don Torribio, what I have written to my father."
"Oh, señorita!" he exclaimed, thrusting the note away.
Doña Concha slowly folded the letter without any apparent emotion, and delivered it to Mercedes.
"My child, you will give this to my father when alone, and explain to him what I have forgotten to say."
"Permit me to withdraw, madam."
"No," Concha replied, with a bewitching smile, "I have no secrets from you."
The young man smiled at this remark. At this moment the horses were brought up, and Doña Concha found time to whisper in Mercedes' ear the hurried words: "Your brother must be here in an hour."
Mercedes slightly closed her eyes as a sign of intelligence.