"I pledge you my word."
"Oh, in that case I will not press you. I know too well that when you put on your big voice and knit your brows, it is useless to do so."
"You are a madcap, Dolores."
"No matter. I should have liked to know why you assumed a false name for this journey."
"Oh! I have no objection to tell you that: my name is too well known, as that of a rich man, for me to venture to carry it across country when so many bandits are swarming on the roads."
"You had no other motive?"
"No other, my dear child: I believe that is sufficient, and that prudence urged me to act as I have done."
"Very good, papa," she replied, shaking her head with a pout: "but," she suddenly exclaimed, "I fancy, papa, that the carriage is slackening its speed."
"It is true," the old gentleman answered, "what is the meaning of this?".
He pulled down the glass and thrust out his head, but could see nothing: the berlin was at this moment entering the defile of the Cumbres, and the road made so many winds, that it was impossible to see more than thirty yards before or behind. The old gentleman called up one of the servants who rode close to the carriage.