In an hour or two I will be at home." But it was near midnight when he arrived, and Antonia saw that he was a different man.

He looked younger.

His blue eyes shone with the light behind them.

On his face there was the impress of an invincible determination.

His very walk had lost its listless, gliding tread, and his steps were firm, alert and rapid.
No one had been able to go to bed until he arrived, though Isabel slept restlessly in her father's chair, and the Senora lay upon the couch, drowsing a little between her frequent attacks of weeping and angry anticipation.