It is the last, as she thinks, that she can receive from her own child, and I cannot disappoint her.

Go you then to Don Augustin; in one short hour I will rejoin you." "Remember it is but an hour!" "One hour," repeated Inez, as she kissed her hand to him; and then blushing, ashamed at her own boldness, she darted from the arbour, and was seen for an instant gliding towards the cottage of her nurse, in which, at the next moment, she disappeared.
Middleton returned slowly and thoughtfully to the house, often bending his eyes in the direction in which he had last seen his wife, as if he would fain trace her lovely form, in the gloom of the evening, still floating through the vacant space.

Don Augustin received him with warmth, and for many minutes his mind was amused by relating to his new kinsman plans for the future.

The exclusive old Spaniard listened to his glowing but true account of the prosperity and happiness of those States, of which he had been an ignorant neighbour half his life, partly in wonder, and partly with that sort of incredulity with which one attends to what he fancies are the exaggerated descriptions of a too partial friendship.
In this manner the hour for which Inez had conditioned passed away, much sooner than her husband could have thought possible, in her absence.

At length his looks began to wander to the clock, and then the minutes were counted, as one rolled by after another and Inez did not appear.