"You are most kind, señora," I replied. "But I know of nothing—unless I might ask you to send a message by Doña Dolores to Señorita Alisanda."
"Gladly! Have you received no message from her?"
I shook my head sadly. She thought a moment, and then pressed me to tell her of my last meeting with Alisanda. The moment I mentioned the cross her face brightened.
"Permit me to see the rosary," she said.
I drew the bitter-sweet gift from my bosom and handed it over to her. To my surprise, she began to examine the beads with a minute scrutiny, feeling and shaking each in turn as she passed it along the cord. Whatever she had thought to discover, she found nothing. At the last she took up the little crucifix and turned it over in her slender hand.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, holding it closer to her sparkling eyes. "Her name is Alisanda Vallois."
"Alisanda Vallois," I repeated, wondering at the remark.
"A. V.—Alisanda Vallois. You have planned for a meeting in August?"
"No, señora. We did not plan. I have heard of no such plan."
"Santa Maria! Men are so stupid!" she rejoined. "Look, there is your message: 'A V—AUG'! What ever else can that mean than Alisanda Vallois, in August?"