"I forgive you, my poor child," the abbess answered; "who could blame you?"
Doña Helena pressed her friend to her heart without saying a word.
"Oh, now our misfortunes are at an end, Anita," the Tigrero exclaimed passionately; "we have friends who will not abandon us in the supreme struggle we are engaging in with our common enemy. God, who has hitherto done everything for us, will not leave his work incomplete; have faith in Him, my beloved."
"Martial," the maiden replied, with a firmness that astonished her hearers, "I was weak because I was alone, but now that I know you live, and are near me to support me, oh! if I were to fall dead at the feet of my persecutor, I would not be false to the oath I took to be yours alone. Believing you dead, I remained faithful to your memory; but now, if persecution assailed me, I should find the strength to endure it."
This scene would have been prolonged, but prudence urged that the abbess should break it off as soon as possible. Doña Anita, rendered strong merely by the nervous excitement which possessed her, soon felt faint; she could scarcely stand, and Don Martial himself felt his energy abandoning him.
The separation was painful between these two beings so miraculously re-united when they never expected to see each other again; but it was soothed by the hope of soon meeting again under the protection of the Mother Superior, who had done so much for them, and whose inexhaustible kindness they had entirely gained for their cause.
For the first time since she had entered the convent, Doña Anita smiled through her tears, as she offered up to heaven her nightly prayers. Don Martial went off rapidly to tell Valentine of what had taken place at this interview, which he had so long desired. Doña Helena, however, retired pensively to her cell; the maiden was dreaming—of what?
No one could have said, and probably she herself was ignorant; but, for some days past, an obtrusive thought unnecessarily occupied her mind, and constantly troubled the calm mirror in which her virgin thoughts were reflected.