"Pray Heaven that may be so!"
"And then Don Ronald and he will perhaps never meet again."
"Let us leave the church. O Inesella! how my heart flutters."
"Indeed, my sweet cousin, your eyes have been the cause of more than one duel already, as the notches on Balthazzar's sword can testify; and you have great reason to feel sorrow and disquiet."
"I hear the hoofs of a horse; 'tis galloping through the Plaza."
"It must be his, Catalina: thanks to our Lady of the Rock, he is gone! They may meet no more."
The ladies were, however, both mistaken. Scarcely had Ronald escorted them home, before Evan placed in his hand a note, addressed to "El Noble Caballero, Don Ronaldo Stuart, 92nd Regimiento, Calle de Guadiana."
In spite of the many vexations which annoyed him, Ronald well nigh laughed on seeing this strange and imperfect address. "This is some trick of Alister's," thought he, as he tore open the billet, the contents of which undeceived him.
"SENOR,
"When the clock of the Casa del Ayuntamiento strikes the hour of two, I shall be awaiting you in the thicket behind the ruins of the castle of Merida. You will not fail to come well armed. BALTHAZZAR DE TRUXILLO."