I saw her
only to love her; nor was it a common passion she inspired in me. I
worshipped her, and longed to wear her on my bosom; but I shrank then
and for a long time after from breathing the hot breath of love on so
tender and heavenly a blossom. I went to her parents and opened my
heart to them. My family being well known to Basilio, I obtained his
consent to visit their lonely _rancho_ whenever I could; and I,
on my part, promised not to speak of love to Transita till her sixteenth
year. Three years after I had found Transita, I was ordered to a distant
part of the country, for I was already in the army then, and, fearing
that it would not be possible for me to visit them for a long time,
I persuaded Basilio to let me speak to his daughter, who was now
fourteen. She had by this time grown extremely fond of me, and she
always looked forward with delight to my visits, when we would spend
days together rambling along the shore, or seated on some cliff
overlooking the sea, talking of the simple things she knew, and of
that wonderful, far-away city life of which she was never tired of
hearing. When I opened my heart to her she was at first frightened at
these new strange emotions I spoke of. Soon, however, I was made happy
by seeing her fear grow less. In one day she ceased to be a child; the
rich blood mantled her cheeks, to leave her the next moment pale and
tremulous; her tender lips were toying with the rim of the honeyed
cup.
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