A stone, loosened from the hillside, had rolled to their feet; there was a crackling in the alders on the slope above them.
"Is it a bear, or a brigand ?" whispered Francisco, hurriedly, sounding the uttermost depths of his terror in the two words.
"It is an eavesdropper," said Juanita, impetuously; "and who and why, I intend to know," and she started towards the thicket.
"Do not leave me, good Juanita," said the young acolyte, grasping the girl's skirt.
"Nay; run to the hacienda quickly, and leave me to search the thicket.
Run!" The boy did not wait for a second injunction, but scuttled away, his long coat catching in the brambles, while Juanita darted like a kitten into the bushes.

Her search was fruitless, however, and she was returning impatiently when her quick eye fell upon a letter lying amidst the dried grass where she and Francisco had been seated the moment before.

It had evidently fallen from his breast when he had risen suddenly, and been overlooked in his alarm.

It was Father Pedro's letter to the Father Superior of San Jose.
In an instant she had pounced upon it as viciously as if it had been the interloper she was seeking.

She knew that she held in her fingers the secret of Francisco's sudden banishment.