"He could not buy them, poor man!" answered Fitzgerald, "for he was in
prison at the time of the auction; but he did not forget to enjoin it
upon me to buy them."

A pleasant hour was spent in joyful surprises over pretty novelties
and cherished souvenirs. Rosa was full of quiet happiness, and
Floracita expressed her satisfaction in lively little gambols. The sun
was going down when they refreshed themselves with the repast Tulipa
had provided. Unwilling to invite the merciless mosquitoes, they sat,
while the gloaming settled into darkness, playing and singing melodies
associated with other times.

Floracita felt sorry when the hour of separation for the night came.
Everything seemed so fearfully still, except the monotonous wash of
the waves on the sea-shore! And as far as she could see the landscape
by the light of a bright little moon-sickle, there was nothing but
a thick screen of trees and shrubbery. She groped her way to her
sleeping-apartment, expecting to find Tulee there. She had been there,
and had left a little glimmering taper behind a screen, which threw a
fantastic shadow on the ceiling, like a face with a monstrous nose. It
affected the excitable child like some kind of supernatural presence.
She crept to the window, and through the veil of the mosquito-bar she
dimly saw the same thick wall of greenery. Presently she espied a
strange-looking long face peering out from its recesses. On their
voyage home from Nassau, Gerald had sometimes read aloud to them
from "The Midsummer Night's Dream." Could it be that there were such
creatures in the woods as Shakespeare described? A closet adjoining
her room had been assigned to Tulee. She opened the door and said,
"Tulee, are you there? Why don't you come?" There was no answer. Again