fourth command."
"Oh, indeed, I did not think of the fourth command! A sin without intention has not penance; and consider, Antonia, I am now sixteen, and they would shut me up like a chicken in its shell. Antonia, sweet Antonia, speak to Rachela, and make your little Iza happy. Fear is so bad for me. See, I do not even care for my cakes and honey this morning.""I will give Rachela the blue silk kerchief I brought from New York. She
will forget a great deal for that, and then, Iza, darling, you must tell
Fray Ignatius of your sin, because it is not good to have an unconfessed
sin on the soul." 

"Antonia, do not say such cruel things. I have confessed to you. Fray
Ignatius will give me a hard penance. Perhaps he may say to mi madre:
'That child had better go back to the convent. I say so, because I
have knowledge.' And now I am tired of that life; I am almost a woman,
Antonia, am I not?" 

Antonia looked tenderly into her face. She saw some inscrutable change
there. All was the same, and all was different. She did not understand
that it was in the eyes, those lookouts of the soul. They had lost the
frank, inquisitive stare of childhood; they were tender and misty;
they reflected a heart passionate and fearful, in which love was making
himself lord of all. 

Antonia was not without experience. There was in New York a gay,
handsome youth, to whom her thoughts lovingly turned. She had promised
to trust him, and to wait for him, and neither silence nor distance
had weakened her faith or her affection. Don Luis had also made her
understand how hard it was to leave Isabel, just when he had hoped to
woo and win her. He had asked her to watch over his beloved, and to say
a word in his favor when all others would be condemning him. 

Her sympathy had been almost a promise, and, indeed, she thought Isabel
could hardly have a more suitable lover. He was handsome, gallant, rich,
and of good morals and noble family. They had been much together in
their lives; their childish affection had been permitted; she felt quite
sure that the parents of both had contemplated a stronger affection and
a more lasting tie between them. 

And evidently Don Luis had advanced further in his suit than the Senora
was aware of. He had not been able to resist the charm of secretly

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