"You will surely remain a few days, señor; it would disoblige me if you answered by a refusal."
"Alas! Madam, I am in despair. I should be delighted to forget here, for some time, the fatigue and dangers of a desert life; unfortunately, serious reasons independent of my will compel my presence at Leona Vicario as early as possible. The Señor Conde knows that we must start tomorrow at sunrise."
The countess displayed signs of great astonishment.
"Can it be true, Don Fadrique?" she said to the count, while looking inquiringly at him.
"Indeed," he answered, "Señor Clary is in such haste to get to Leona, that if we had not been found by your messenger a few leagues from here, we should have continued our journey without calling at the hacienda."
"It is impossible!" the countess exclaimed, her face suffused with a hectic flush.
"Why so?" he continued.
The countess heaved a heavy sigh.
"Have you forgotten, then, Don Fadrique," she at length said, in a low and trembling voice, "that tomorrow is the anniversary of the fatal day?"
"Ah!" the count exclaimed, as he sorrowfully smote his brow, "Forgive me, Doña Carmencita. In truth I cannot leave the hacienda tomorrow—oh no! Not even if it were a question of life and death."