This polite and firm indifference, which was kept within proper bounds, offended her to the last degree. In the first emotion of her choler she violently spurred her horse, and keeping it back, the animal pranced, and would have thrown her, had I not seasonably alighted and caught her in my arms.
Meanwhile the horse ran off without its rider, and Don Bernardos galloped on to overtake it. Adela had fainted in her fright, and having relieved her with the smelling bottle, I put her on my own horse, and led it by the bridle.
"Excuse me Madam," added I, "for taking the bridle, because I really think you don't now ride so well as you used to do."
This remark penetrated deeply into her heart, and she did not answer it. But I saw that her bosom glowed with rage, and she could but difficultly draw breath. I never opened my mouth again till we arrived at the villa, and leading the horse to the gate, I walked on slowly, without favoring her with a single look. On our arrival before her apartment, I said to her, "Though the
