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138 the more did she shrink from so long and unprotected a journey. It cost her a sleepless night; but she resolved on staying in Spain till she either saw or heard from him—he and Don Henriquez, when they met, would decide on what course it might be best to pursue. We waste a great deal of thought. As is usual in all cases of long deliberation, she did precisely the reverse of what she intended. The following afternoon she was wandering round what had been her mother's garden—all her life's sweetest associations were there—when she saw a peasant approaching. Alvarez was the soldier who had so attracted Lorraine's attention the first evening he rode into the village, and during his stay he had found a home beneath his roof;—Alvarez, too, had served under her father: a visit from him was, therefore, nothing uncommon; but to-day there was an appearance of haste and anxiety that augured any thing but good. Yet he hesitated; and a basket of pomegranates he brought from his little Minora, was evidently the ostensible, not the real cause of his coming. "The Senhora must find the old house very lonely." "Lonely and sad enough, indeed, my good Alvarez."