the service therefore fell upon her.

The prisoner did not seem to heed her when she entered; at least, he
gave no sign, until she approached him, and even then was not the
first to speak. Going to the window, her eyes followed his to the
garden below.

"It looks well this morning," she said, pleasantly.

"Yes,--but I have seen prettier," he answered.

"Where?" she asked, so quickly that Manuel almost smiled as he
looked at her before he answered. He knew why she spoke thus, and
was not offended by the compassion of her sympathy.

"In my own home, Elizabeth," he answered.

"Aren't you _ever_ going back to it, Sir?" she asked, hurriedly.

He did not reply.

"Won't you ever see it again?" she persisted.

"Banishment,--a prisoner for life," said he, for the first time
explaining to any person his dread sentence.

Elizabeth Montier quietly pondered the words thus spoken.

"If you had your freedom," said she, "would you go back to your own
country?--Your breakfast is cooling, Sir."