Pepita Ximenez

n the village found anything strange in the fact of Pepita's being indisposed, or thought, still less, of attributing her indisposition to a cause of which only we, Pepita herself, Don Luis, the reverend dean, and the discreet Antonona, are thus far cognizant. They might rather have wondered at the life, of gayety that Pepita had been leading for some time past, at the daily gatherings at her house, and the excursions into the country in which she had joined. That Pepita should return to her habitual seclusion was quite natural. Her secret and deeply roo.ted love for Don Luis was hidden from the searching glances of DoQa Casilda, of Currito, and of all the other personages of the village of whom mention is made in the letters of Don Luis. Still less could the public know of it. It never entered into the head of any one?no one imagined for a moment that the theologian, the saint, as they called Don Luis, could become the rival of his father, or could have succeeded where the redoubtable and powerful Don Pedro de Vargas had failed?in winning the heart of the lovely, graceful, coy, and reserved young widow. Notwithstanding the familiarity of the ladies of the village with their servants, Pepita had allowed none of hers to suspect anything. Only the lynx-eyed Antonona, whom nothing could escape, and more especially nothing that concerned her young mistress, had penetrated the mystery. Antonona did not conceal her discovery from Pepita, nor could Pepita ...