Meanwhile, Lady Mabel was gazing thoughtfully over the winding valley,
which running toward them from the East, turned abruptly to the South,
indicating the course of the Guadiana, and on the wide plains of
Estremadura _baja_, or the lower, to the blue sierras that walled it
round. "This, then, is Spain," said she; "the land I have read of,
dreamed of, and for the last four years, thought of more even than of
my own."
"And yet," said L'Isle, "you calling yourself a traveler, have been
for months within sight of it, and have never set your foot on Spanish
ground."
"I blush to own it. But you, my self-appointed guide, should blush,
too, at never having led me thither. Come, Mrs. Shortridge: these
soldiers are too slow for us; let us take horse to-morrow, and make an
inroad into Spain."
"Willingly," said Mrs. Shortridge. "But let us take a strong party
with us. We do not know how we might be received, should the Spaniards
mistake us for Portuguese!"
"If a visit to Badajoz is your object," said Cranfield, "I offer
myself as a guide. As I have been lately engaged in repairing its
shattered walls, I may be useful in showing you how to get in.
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