Sisa hurried her steps so as to avoid, if possible, meeting the people who were coming out, but in vain, for no means offered to escape encountering them.

With a bitter smile she saluted two of her acquaintances, who merely turned inquiring glances upon her, so that to avoid further mortification she fixed her gaze on the ground, and yet, strange to say, she stumbled over the stones in the road! Upon seeing her, people paused for a moment and conversed among themselves as they gazed at her, all of which she saw and felt in spite of her downcast eyes.
She heard the shameless tones of a woman who asked from behind at the top of her voice, "Where did you catch her?
And the money ?" It was a woman without a tapis, or tunic, dressed in a green and yellow skirt and a camisa of blue gauze, easily recognizable from her costume as a _querida_ of the soldiery.

Sisa felt as if she had received a slap in the face, for that woman had exposed her before the crowd.

She raised her eyes for a moment to get her fill of scorn and hate, but saw the people far, far away.

Yet she felt the chill of their stares and heard their whispers as she moved over the ground almost without knowing that she touched it.
"Eh, this way!" a guard called to her.