The young wife made an affirmative gesture.
"How was it? Tell me."
"I don't know," she replied, in a weak and hesitating voice. "I had been
in church but a few minutes.... I begun to feel sick. Then the pictures
of the saints began to waver before my eyes.... I felt as though my
sight were leaving me.... And without knowing what I was doing I started
to run.... And before I knew it I found myself near the grand altar....
I heard the people saying: 'What is it? what is it?' and that there was
a confusion.... I turned around, and without looking at any one, I
crossed the church again, and came out...."
Miguel succeeded in calming her; he made the servant bring her a cup of
lime juice, and promised that he would not let her go to church again
alone.
After a while, when she was entirely recovered, he asked her a question
in a whisper, which she, dropping her eyes, answered in the negative.
Then with a smiling face he whispered a few words in her ear.... The
young wife, when she heard them, trembled, fastened her eyes on him with
an anxious expression for a moment, and, confused and blushing, threw
herself into his arms, murmuring:--
"Oh, don't deceive me! Don't deceive me, for Heaven's sake!"