I followed close behind them until they were out
of the crowd, and then slipped away, and once round the corner took
to my heels and made my way back, and got in two or three minutes
before you arrived."
The two young men talked almost continuously during their walk to
the village in order to keep up the spirits of Donna Inez, and to
prevent her from thinking of the strangeness of her position and
the perils that lay before them before safety could be obtained.
Only once she spoke of the future.
"Is it true, Gerald, that there are always storms and rain in your
country, and that you never see the sun, for so some of those who
were in the Armada have told me?"
"It rains there sometimes, Inez, I am bound to admit; but it
is often fine, and the sun never burns one up as it does here. I
promise you you will like it, dear, when you once become accustomed
to it."
"I do not think I shall," she said, shaking her head; "I am accustomed
to the sun, you know. But I would rather be with you even in such
an island as they told me of than in Spain with Don Philip."
The village seemed absolutely deserted when they arrived there,
the whole population having gone over to Seville to take part in
the great fete. Father Denis received his fair visitor with the
greatest kindness. "Here, Catherine," he cried to his old servant,
"here are the visitors I told you I expected.
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