"Stay!" exclaimed the surgeon, who found himself compelled to yield, "I will act in accordance with your wishes."
"Very good," the general replied; "and now I will try to take some rest, for my strength is exhausted, I feel."
Leon prepared to bid farewell to the general, and leave the country house.
"Good-bye, my friend," the patient murmured; "in two days we shall meet again, or, if not, it is to you—you alone—I confine the care of guarding Maria. Go, and may Heaven aid you to find Inez."
Leon bent his knee before the old man.
"Sir," he said to him, with profound emotion, "my life and heart belong to you; take one and break the other if you like, for I can no longer conceal from you the secret that devours me—I love your daughter, Doña Maria."
"Father, father!" Maria also exclaimed, as she fell on her knees by the side of the general's bed; "forgive me, for I love him in return."
As his sole answer, Don Juan de Soto-Mayor held out his hand to the young people, who covered it with kisses and burning tears. A glance of ineffable happiness was exchanged between the smuggler and the novice.
"Now I am strong," Leon exclaimed, as he rose. "You shall be avenged, Don Juan."
And he rushed out of the house. In a second, all his men were ready to start.