"No, I will not, and you will vex me if you say so again," she
added, pettishly.

"Come, Carlo, come," said Ruez, calling to the hound, as he followed
close upon his sister's footsteps towards the entrance of Don
Gonzales's house on the Plato.

The truth was, Isabella Gonzales, the proud beauty, was pleased;
perhaps her vanity was partly enlisted also, while she remembered
the frankness of the humble soldier who had poured out his devotions
at her feet in such simple yet earnest strains as to carry
conviction with every word to the lady's heart. Image, even from the
most lowly, is not without its charm to beauty, and the proud girl
mused over the late scene thoughtfully, ay, far more thoughtfully
than she had ever done before, on the offer of the richest and
proudest cavalier.

She had never loved; she knew not what the passion meant, as applied
to the opposite sex. Universal homage had been her share ever since
she could remember; and if Isabella Gonzales was not a confirmed
coquette, she was certainly very near being one. The light in which
she regarded the advances of Captain Bezan, even puzzled herself;
the phase of his case and the manner of his avowal were so far
without precedent, that its novelty engaged her. She still felt
vexed at the young soldier's assurance, but yet all unconsciously
found herself endeavoring to invent any number of excuses for the
conduct he had exhibited!

"It is true, as he said," she remarked, half aloud to herself, "that
it was the only way in which he could meet me on terms of sufficient