He was told that, for the moment, she was occupied, but that if he would come in and wait, she would presently be with him.

He had not sat musing in the firelight for ten minutes when he heard the jingle of the door-bell and then a rustling and murmuring in the hall.

The door of the little saloon opened, but before the visitor appeared he had recognized her voice.

Christina Light swept forward, preceded by her poodle, and almost filling the narrow parlor with the train of her dress.

She was colored here and there by the flicking firelight.
"They told me you were here," she said simply, as she took a seat.
"And yet you came in?
It is very brave," said Rowland.
"You are the brave one, when one thinks of it! Where is the padrona ?" "Occupied for the moment.