He bowed his head, to await the decision of the judges, while from the lips of Nina de Sutro fell the words in a quivering voice:
“I felt that it was so. He is my hero of the Rio Grande!”
CHAPTER II.
DESERTED.
A year after the fatal tournament in the City of Mexico, a grand masquerade ball was being held in a salon in New Orleans, and thither had flocked the beauty and the chivalry of the Crescent City.
Among the cavaliers present who had attracted much attention by his elegance of form and gorgeous attire was one in Mexican costume.
He had flirted with many of the fair belles, and was always in demand for a waltz, so gracefully did he dance, and a favored maiden present was envied by all the others as the Mexican seemed to devote more of his attention to her than to any one else present. At last he said to her:
“Though unknown to you, señorita——”
“How do you know that I am a señorita?” was the low query, in the sweetest of voices.
“My heart tells me that you have never loved, that you are not a wife; but though unknown to you, let me beg that you take a stroll with me in the moonlight. Will you go?”
“Yes.”