"I think that his excellency wishes to marry me,"
replied Concha; and the Commandante was so stag-
gered by the calm assurance of her tone and manner
that his pent-up emotion exploded.

"Dios!" he roared. "What right have you to
know when a man wishes to marry you? What
manner of Spanish girl is this? Truly has his ex-
cellency said that you are not as other women. The
place for you is your room, with bread and water
for a week. Sixteen!"

"Ignacio was born when my mother was sixteen,"
said Concha coolly.

"What of that? She married whom and when
she was told to marry."

"I have heard that you serenaded nightly beneath
her grating--"

"So did others."

"I have heard that when of all her suitors her
father chose one more highly born, a gentleman of
the Viceroy's court, she pined until they gave their
consent to her marriage with you, lest she die."

"But I was a Catholic! The prejudice against my
birth was an unworthy one. I had distinguished