Trusting you will find a few minutes to spare for me, I will not say adieu, but _au revoir_." As she turned away, she thought to herself: "What a fascinating child! What a charmingly unsophisticated way she took to tell me she would rather not have me call on her! I observed there seemed to be some mystery about her when she was in Nassau.

What can it be?
Nothing wrong, I hope." Floracita descended to the beach and gazed after the carriage as long as she could see it.

Her thoughts were so occupied with this unexpected interview, that she took no notice of the golden drops which the declining sun was showering on an endless procession of pearl-crested waves; nor did she cast one of her customary loving glances at the western sky, where masses of violet clouds, with edges of resplendent gold, enclosed lakes of translucent beryl, in which little rose-colored islands were floating.

She retraced her steps to the woods, almost crying.

"How strange my answers must appear to her!" murmured she.