them, he never asked to see Juana, or to have the door of her
mysterious hiding-place opened to him. The young girl, hungry to see
her lover, implored him to do so; but he always refused her from an
instinct of prudence. Besides, he had used his best powers and
fascinations to lull the suspicions of the old couple, and had now
accustomed them to see him, a soldier, stay in bed till midday on
pretence that he was ill. Thus the lovers lived only in the
night-time, when the rest of the household were asleep. If Montefiore
had not been one of those libertines whom the habit of gallantry
enables to retain their self-possession under all circumstances, he
might have been lost a dozen times during those ten days. A young
lover, in the simplicity of a first love, would have committed the
enchanting imprudences which are so difficult to resist. But he did
resist even Juana herself, Juana pouting, Juana making her long hair
a chain which she wound about his neck when caution told him he must
go.

The most suspicious of guardians would however have been puzzled to
detect the secret of their nightly meetings. It is to be supposed
that, sure of success, the Italian marquis gave himself the ineffable
pleasures of a slow seduction, step by step, leading gradually to the
fire which should end the affair in a conflagration. On the eleventh
day, at the dinner-table, he thought it wise to inform old Perez,
under seal of secrecy, that the reason of his separation from his
family was an ill-assorted marriage. This false revelation was an
infamous thing in view of the nocturnal drama which was being played
under that roof. Montefiore, an experienced rake, was preparing for
the finale of that drama which he foresaw and enjoyed as an artist who
loves his art. He expected to leave before long, and without regret,
the house and his love. It would happen, he thought, in this way: