"Are there no ladies in your family?" asked Dulaurier with a gallant air.
It was then that in spite of Rosita's efforts to avoid his attention he caught sight of her as she hid behind Don Pedro's high-backed chair.
"Ah! here is one!" he said, without recognising his betrothed. He stepped forward towards her.
"Most amiable senora," he began politely, "permit me——" He paused, gazing with stupefied eyes upon the young girl, and then made a sign to his soldiers to leave them.
"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed, "if I am not deceived it is Rosita, my pretty fiancée!"
"You are right; it is I, Monsieur Dulaurier," faltered the young girl.
The light of happiness vanished from all the faces in the room except the lieutenant's.
"You can easily understand, my pretty one, what has led me to Panola," said Dulaurier.
"I presume you have come to remind Rosita," answered Don Pedro, "of the promise that she gave you at her dying father's bedside. She has not forgotten it, senor. She recognises her duty, and you have only one word to say——"
"Will you answer me yourself, Rosita?" interrupted Dulaurier, marking her extreme pallor and agitation. "You know what I have the right of claiming; are you still able to give it me freely?"