"I will tell him, madam. Have you any further commands for me?"
"No, you can go."
The young man bowed for the last time, and went out. Doña Emilia was hardly alone ere her daughter rushed from her bedroom, and ran up to her.
"Well," she said, "what is the meaning of this, Niña? Why have you come without being called?"
"Oh, mother," she answered, as she threw herself into her arms, "forgive me, but I was suffering too greatly."
Doña Emilia recoiled, and looked her daughter in the face.
"What is the meaning of these words, señorita!" she said to her, sternly. "To what are you alluding?"
The girl, ashamed of the confession she had allowed to escape her, buried her head in her hands, and burst into tears.
"Diana, Diana!" her mother said, with ineffable sadness, as she drew her daughter gently to her heart, "You are preparing great suffering both for yourself and me."
"Mother!" she murmured, with a sob.