"The truth of this came bitterly home to my heart; I gave the speaker a fierce and reproachful glance, and folded my arms in silence.
"My heart bled for the unhappy girl.
* * * * * *
"Frequently in that long and dreary night, when the mountain blast howled drearily through the shattered villa of Aviero, and moaned in the gorge through which the Tagus wound, I heard the cries and lamentations of the miserable girl, and the oaths and revelry of those to whom she was now abandoned.
"Ere daybreak her cries had ceased. Mille Baionettes! they nearly drove me mad.
"What became of her I know not, as I never saw her again.
"Next day, an old Padre of Santarem came with a message from the hidalgo Don Juan Lerma, whose mansion I had spared. The priest had volunteered on this errand of mercy, as no other man in Santarem would venture within the reach of the terrible Aviero, to whom he paid two hundred pillared dollars, and I was conducted to within a few toises of the advanced sentinels of our out-piquets, by Don Julian in person, and we bade each other adieu with a very good grace, but without either tears or regret on my side, as may be well assumed; and so ended my mal-adventure in the wood of Santarem."
—————
The Captain St. Florian concluded his story.
"Parbleu!" said he, "how dry my throat is with speaking so long, and I dare say I have tired you to death. But let us have one more bottle of Janette's champagne, and then we shall decamp soberly to look for more adventures. But I must be cautious, being for guard at the chateau to-morrow. You cannot mean to return to Lagny to-night?"