Ever since Count de la Saulay's arrival at the hacienda del Arenal, do?a Dolores had treated him with a degree of reserve which the marriage projects made by the two families were far from justifying¹. The young lady had not only had no private interviews with the man whom she ought to consider to some extent her betrothed², but had not indulged in the slightest intimacy³, or most innocent familiarity; while remaining polite, and even gracious, she had contrived⁴, ever since the first day they met, to raise a barrier between herself and the count—a barrier which he had never attempted to scale, and which had condemned⁵ him to remain, perhaps against his secret wishes, within the limits of the strictest reserve.

In these conditions, and especially after the scene at which he had been present on the previous evening, we can easily understand what the stupefaction of the young man must be on learning that do?a Dolores requested an interview with him. What could she have to say to him? For what motive⁶ did she grant him this meeting? What reason impelled⁷ her to act thus? Such were the questions which the count did not cease to ask himself—questions which necessarily remained unanswered. Hence the young man's anxiety, curiosity, and impatience⁸, were aroused to the highest degree, and it was with a feeling of joy, which he could not fully⁹ explain, that he at length heard the hour for the interview strike. Had he been in Paris instead of a Mexican hacienda, he would have certainly known beforehand what he had to expect from the message he had received, and his conduct would have been regulated beforehand.

But here the coldness of do?a Dolores toward him—a coldness which had never once thawed—the preference which after the last night's scene she seemed to give to another person, all combined to deprive this interview of the slightest supposition of love. Was it his renunciation of her hand, and

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