signed in the presence of her family and more inti-
mate friends, the priests, his officers, and the Gov-
ernor, he had not spoken with her for a moment
alone. Nor had her eyes met his in a glance of
understanding. At the dances she showed him no
favor; and as the engagement was to be as secret
as might be in that small community, until his re-
turn with consent of Pope and King, he was forced
to concede that her conduct was irreproachable; but
when on the day of the betrothal she was oblivious
to his efforts to draw her into the garden, he
mounted his horse and rode off in a huff.

The truth was that Concha liked the present
arrangement no better than himself, and knowing
that her own appeal against the proprieties would
result in a deeper seclusion, she determined to goad
him into using every resource of address and subtlety
to bring about a more human state of affairs. And
she accomplished her object. Rezanov, at the end
of a week was not only infuriated but alarmed. He
knew the imagination of woman, and guessed that
Concha, in her brooding solitude, distorted all that
was unfortunate in the present and dwelt morbidly
on the future. He knew that she must resent his
part in the long separation, no doubt his lack of im-
pulsiveness in not proposing elopement. There was
a priest in his company who, although he ate below
the salt and found his associates among the sailors,
could have performed the ceremony of marriage