"Are you ill, dear Juan?"
"Do not deceive me! your face tells me that something ails you?"
"Oh! the evening is cold and the work has been excessive."
"Come in and sit down at the hearth and I will get the supper ready, and when you have had something to eat and are rested you will be at ease again!"
"At ease!" murmured Juan to himself, in agony of spirit, whilst his wife busied herself in the preparation of the supper, placing the table close to the hearth, upon which she threw a faggot.
Juan made a supreme effort to overcome his sadness, but it was futile. His wife could not be deceived.
"For the first time in our married life," she said, "you hide a sorrow from me. Am I no longer worthy of your love and confidence?"
"Catherine!" he exclaimed, "do not, for heaven's sake, grieve me further by doubting my affection for you!"
"Where there is no trust," she rejoined in feeling tones, "there can be no true love."
"Then respect, for your own good and mine, the secret I conceal from you."
"Your secret is a sorrow, and I wish to know it and to lighten it."
"To lighten it? That is impossible!"
"To such a love as mine," she urged, "nothing is impossible."
"Very well: then hear me. To-morrow my life and honour will be lost. The bridge must fall into the river, and I on the keystone shall perish with the fabric which, with so much anxiety and so many hopes, I have erected!"
"No, no!" cried Catherine, as she clasped her husband in her arms with loving tenderness, smothering in her own heart the anguish of the revelation.
"Yes, dear wife! When I was most confident of my triumph, I discovered that, owing to an error in my calculations, the bridge must fall to-morrow when the framework is removed. And with it perishes the architect who projected and directed it."
"The bridge may sink into the waters, but not you, my loved one. On bended knees I will beseech the noble Cardinal to release you from your terrible engagement."
"What you ask will be in vain. Even should the Cardinal accede to your entreaty, I refuse life destitute of honour."
"You shall have life and honour both, dear husband," replied Catherine.
IV.
It was midnight. Juan, worn out with grief and anxious work, at last had fallen asleep; a feverish
