Page:Cup of Gold-1929.djvu/227

Ysobel sat under the picture. When Henry entered she went quickly to him.

“It is said I am to be ransomed.”

“Your husband sent a messenger.”

“My husband! I am to go back to him? to his scented hands?”

“Yes.”

She pointed to a chair and forced Henry to seat himself.

“You did not understand me,” she said. “You could not understand me. You must know something of the life I have traveled. I must tell you this thing, and then you will understand me, and then—”

She awaited his interest. Henry was silent.

“Don’t you wish to hear this thing?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, it is short. My life has been short. But I want you to understand me, and then—”

She looked sharply into his face. Henry’s mouth was pinched as though in pain. His eyes contemplated bewilderment. He made no reply to her pause.

“It was this way, you see,” she began. “I was born here in Panama, but my parents sent me to Spain when I was a small child. I lived in a convent in Cordova. I wore gray dresses and lay in watch before the Virgin on my nights given to adoration. Sometimes I went to sleep when I should have been praying. I have suffered for that laxness. When I had been there a number of years, the bravos raided my father’s plantation