"Be it so!" said Valentine, striking in to assist his friend; "we were then in search of fortune. Well, and now," he continued, gaily, "thanks to Heaven that our assistance is no longer necessary to you, we are not willing to abuse your kind hospitality any longer."

"What does this mean?" Don Tadeo exclaimed, rising. "What do you call abusing my hospitality? Why do you employ such futile pretexts with me?"

"We must go!" the young man repeated, coldly.

"Oh! I cannot believe it is the thirst for gold which urges you to leave me. Your heart is too noble for that odious passion to gain possession of it."

"Don Tadeo, you do us but justice," the count replied; "it is not the thirst for gold which actuates us, for our intention on leaving you is to retire among the Aucas Indians."

Don Tadeo looked perfectly astonished.

"Do not form a bad opinion of us," the young man continued; "be assured that if a powerful motive did not oblige us to depart, I, at least, should be most happy to remain with you."

Don Tadeo walked up and down the hall in great agitation.

"Can you not tell me the motive you speak of," he said in an affectionate tone.

The young lady turned her head imperceptibly.

"I cannot!" Louis murmured, bowing his head.

Rosario shrugged her shoulders with an air of disappointment.

"Very well, caballero," Don Tadeo replied, with cold dignity; "you and your friend are free to act as to you seems best. Pardon me the questions I have put to you, but your resolution, which I in vain endeavour to account for, has destroyed past recovery a cherished hope, which I should have been most happy to have seen realised. Here is my letter to Don Gregorio Peralta; when do you wish to set out?"

"This very instant!" the count replied; "my friend and I intended to bid you farewell immediately after breakfast."

"Yes," Valentine continued, who perceived that his foster brother, overcome by his feelings, could not say any more; "we beg you to accept our thanks for the friendship you have deigned to display towards us, and to assure you that the remembrance of you will live in the bottom of our hearts."

"Farewell, then!" Don Tadeo said, with great emotion. "God grant that you may find elsewhere the happiness that awaited you here."

Valentine bowed without replying; his tears choked his utterance.

"Adieu, señorita!" murmured the count, in a tremulous low voice; "may you be happy?"

She made no reply: deeply wounded, he turned away quickly, and strode towards the door. In spite of all their resolution, when on the point of going out, the young men cast one look behind them, to salute for the last time persons who were so dear to them, and whom they were abandoning for ever. Don Tadeo stood motionless in the same place, apparently still as much surprised as hurt. Doña Rosario continued playing mechanically with the ears of the dog.

"Cæsar!" shouted Valentine.

At the voice of his master, the Newfoundland dog disengaged himself quickly from the arms of the young girl, and bounded to his side.

"Cæsar!" Rosario murmured faintly.

And then, in spite of the signs and orders of his master, the animal laid itself down at her feet.

With a bursting heart, the count made a violent effort, and sprang towards the door.

"Louis!" Rosario cried. "Louis, you have sworn never to be separated from Cæsar."

Louis staggered, as if struck by lightning; a glow of inexpressible joy lit up his face; he let the letter fall, and gently thrust forward by Valentine, fell at the feet of the lovely and now smiling girl.

"My father!" Rosario implored, throwing her arm round his neck, "I well knew that he loved me."

Valentine felt an acute pang mixed with an immense joy at this denouement.

"It is I," he said, picking up the letter with a smile, of which none but such a man is capable, "who must carry the answer."

"Oh, no!" Doña Rosario said, with a playful pout, "You will not leave us, my friend; are you not the dearly beloved brother of my Louis? Oh, we will not let you go!"

Valentine kissed the hand extended to him, and secretly wiped away a tear, but he made no reply.

The day passed away rapidly and happily for all; when night was come —

"Farewell, brother!" said Valentine, with deep emotion. "Thank Heaven, you are henceforth sheltered from all misfortune."

The count looked at him anxiously.

"Brother," he said, "are you unhappy?"

"Who, I?" said Valentine, endeavouring to smile, "I never was so happy in my life!"

After embracing the count, who gave way to him, though astonished at the sudden appearance of grief in such a man, he strode away. Louis watched him depart, saying to himself —

"What can be the matter with him? Oh, tomorrow he shall explain himself!"

But on the morrow Valentine had disappeared.

He also loved Doña Rosario.

The young people waited for him a long time. At length, three months after his departure, when all hopes of his return had completely vanished, the Count de Prébois-Crancé married Doña Rosario. But Valentine was wanting.

Those of our readers who have taken an interest in Valentine, and we hope that they are numerous, will find his further adventures recorded in the "TIGER-SLAYER."