When she had completely filled her basket she turned to me and spoke: "I
am glad to see thee, Carlos, for it has been long since we have met, and
I began to think that thou hadst forgotten thy old friend, or, perhaps,
hadst learned all about flowers and herbs, so that she could teach thee
no more."

"No, Madre; I shall never know so much about them as you do. I can learn
their names and values only, while you put them all to so many good
uses," I answered. "What do you do with the leaves you have just
gathered? They are very poisonous, and you should wash your hands well
after touching them, and especially after getting the juice on your
fingers!"

"But thou knowest poison makes little difference with one like me, who
hath a charmed life," replied Madre Moreno, as she handed me the basket
to carry while she nimbly stepped from stone to stone and climbed out of
the hollow, here and there startling a snake or lizard that lay in the
sunshine.

"It is well done!" she abruptly said, and looking at me, burst into a
fit of laughter which was so spontaneous and hearty that I joined with
her, though I knew not at what I was laughing. My own laugh sounded
strangely, however, and seemed to me to echo with another tone from the
vine-covered walls as if some one were there, and like Madre Moreno,
were also laughing at me. I stopped suddenly, and I felt my face change
colour, and the same awe which I so often felt when about the ruined
house came upon me with a force I had never known before; I trembled as
I stood there beside this strange woman, who laughed louder and louder,
striking her little hands together in seeming ecstacy, while the sounds
echoed and re-echoed among the fig trees and heaps of stones, yet