The written message that Renault had received in
the fortress from the hand of Gobin, and which had produced
such an effect upon him, was couched in these
figurative words, and without date or signature.

“The wolf hath entered the fold, and borne away the
lamb to his lair.”

[figure description] Page 144.[end figure description]

In a little more than half an hour after receiving it,
and crossing the lake with his forces, he came in sight
of the gate of the city with three hundred men at his
back. He was impetuously thundering on, with the intention
of carrying the barriers by storm, when the
gray woman appeared suddenly in his path.

“Hold, Renault!” she cried, waving her arm as he
approached her at the head of his men.

He instantly halted his troop, he himself drawing
rein within three feet of her with so sudden a check to
the impetus of his horse that he threw him back upon
his haunches. The fore feet of the animal for a moment
beat the air, and threatened to descend upon the
breast of the sorceress, who saved herself from being
struck with his hoofs by adroitly seizing him by the bit,
and, with a wonderful display of coolness and strength,
turning him aside.

“Dismount; I would speak with thee,” she cried, authoritatively.

Impatient as he was to fly to the rescue or to the
revenge of his sister, he nevertheless obeyed. Throwing
his rein to one of his troop, he followed her, as she
preceded him at a rapid pace, until she came beneath
the wall, near an angle of one of the abutments, against
which stood the ruins of a stone hut. This she entered,
making a sign for him to follow.

“Nay, time is more precious than life, and why
waste it in mystery, woman?” said Renault, pausing on
the threshold.

“Thy sister is in no present danger! but, if thou
wouldst finally save her, thou must be guided by me.
Did not a message from me bring thee hither at the
head of thy troop?”

“Thou hast spoken truly. Lead on! I will be guided
by thee!”

She immediately entered the inner room of the dark
hut, and, lifting a trap door, descended a dilapidated
flight of steps. He followed her unhesitatingly, an
idea of the object she had in view flashing upon his
mind, and found himself in a cavernous passage, with

[figure description] Page 145.[end figure description]

broken arches and an unpaved floor. Her footsteps,
for he could see nothing in the gloom, guided him along
the damp, subterraneous passage, which, after several
intricate windings, conducted them to a flight of stairs
at its extremity. These she ascended to an apartment,
into which, through numerous crevices, streamed the
light of the moon. After listening an instant at a door,
she boldly threw it open, and Renault, to his surprise,
found that he was in a street within the walls.

“The knowledge of this passage gives us possession
of the town,” he cried, with animation, forgetting, in
his great discovery, the immediate object in which he
was so deeply interested.

“Follow me,” she said, on gaining the street, without
pausing to look behind her.

“Alone! I can effect nothing alone! In five minutes
I will have my men dismounted and let into the
town,” he said, going back into the building.

“Young man,” she cried, sternly, “follow me!
Leave thy troop to wait for thy return.”

“I will not go without the power to punish this tyrant!”
he replied, determinedly.

“Is not thy sister in momentary peril? The evil of
one moment's delay a legion of warriors may not undo.”

“I obey,” he anxiously responded, and followed her.

On the way to the palace she informed him, in her
brief, figurative manner, of the particulars of Azèlie's
abduction, none of which had escaped her vigilant and
ceaseless espionnage.

“She sleeps yet, say you?” he asked, with trembling.

“Until the nightingale sings its evening song. I
have long been familiar, like this false slave Absulem,
with this and every other draught to produce sleep.
Their qualities, powers, and effects are all known to
me.”

“Sleeps she unprotected save by her own innocence?
Alas! she is no longer the spotless and gentle dove I
have so many years nestled in my bosom,” he said, with
bitter anguish, while the fierce grasp he held upon his

[figure description] Page 146.[end figure description]

naked sword, as he strode along in the shadows of the
buildings, betrayed the stern and deadly character of
his thoughts.

“His own subtle and refined passion will be her
safeguard till she awakes to the life and warmth of
beauty. She sleeps securely.”

“Pray Heaven thy words be true!”

“From the garden, after entering her chamber and
writing the line to thee, which, on the way, I gave to
one who has proved a faithful messenger, did I follow
the Moor with his burden even to the door of his cabinet.
Thence passing round the balcony, I saw her
through the window laid tenderly upon an ottoman;
and from Osma's words and bearing, as well as my
knowledge of his character, knew that he had not
caused this drugged sleep for a darker purpose than
her quiet removal from thy roof to his own. Knowing
the moment she would awake, I left her securely,
and hastened to the gate to meet thy coming.”

“Why not admit my troop?”

“They are but a handful to the Spanish army, and
would defeat our purpose.”

“Wherefore this interest in my sister?” asked Renault,
abruptly.

“Thou shalt shortly know, but not to-night. Now
think of her safety, for yonder is the palace.”

“And, hark! there is the nightingale singing,” cried
Renault, bounding forward.

“Be not too hasty, young man. Remain here in
this recess of the Cathedral tower, and await my return.”

Before he could object or make any reply, she had
crossed the space between the church nad the palace,
and approached a casement that extended quite to the
ground. Pressing her finger against a corner section
of the lattice, the diamond-shaped leaf of the window
opened inwardly, and let her into a low hall in the basement
of the palace. She crossed it with a rapid and
familiar step, and, ascending a winding stairway, reached
a paved saloon on the main floor. Here soldiers,

[figure description] Page 147.[end figure description]

retainers, and lounging officers caused her to turn
aside and glide in the deep shadows among the columns
until she came to a door ajar, which by a private
stair communicated with the suite of apartments occupied
by the Count of Osma. In a few seconds, avoiding
in her progress, with singular adroitness and address,
an encounter with any of the members of the household,
she reached the marble passage, and the next instant
was in the very cabinet of the count, an unseen
listener and witness of the scene between him and
Azèlie. When the terrified girl flew past her, closely
pursued by the count, she followed her in turn as swiftly,
till she saw her at the feet of Estelle.

“She is for the moment safe,” she said, retiring in
the shade as Osma passed; “I will now bring the
brother hither, that he may fall into the snare I would
have set for him. If he be suffered to go at liberty,
the public and overwhelming judgment I design for
Osma will be defeated by his rashness. This trial
Osma shall consent to. Until then, Renault must not
be suffered to go free or communicate with his band.
There is seeming evil in this, but good will come of
it, and the Spaniard's shame and infamy be the more
sure. If Allah let me live till the day of trial, I will
turn my face to Mecca, and then die.”

Thus communing with her thoughts, she re-entered
the gallery, and was leaving it by the way she had
come, when at the other end of it her active eye detected
a door slowly opening. Instantly concealing
herself in a recess, she saw the Moor emerge from the
secret staircase leading to the dungeons of the Inquisition,
and advance towards the cabinet. She directly
placed herself before him in his path with a gesture of
menace and silence. With a face full of fear, he crossed
his hands upon his breast, and stood tremblingly
awaiting her commands.

“Thou hast the confidence of thy master. Thy
word is even as his. Go to the captain of the guard,
and bid him remain at his post whatsoever may happen
within the palace, and bid him admit myself and

[figure description] Page 148.[end figure description]

those I bring with me without question, as if by thy
master's order. As thou fearest me, obey!”

The Moor made an obeisance of submission, as if
to a supernatural being, and was about to leave her,
when she inquired the cause of his appearance through
the secret door in the wall in so stealthy a manner.
From him she learned with pleasure, what she had
desired to know, the place of Don Henrique's confinement,
of whose arrest she had been an unseen witness
while watching to counteract Osma's plots.

“Hath his death been decreed?” she asked, eagerly.

“His soul will be with Allah with the next sunrise,”
answered the Moor.

“Meet me here at midnight with the keys of his
dungeon, or beware my power!” she said, authoritatively.

“Sulem hath no will but that of Azrael whom thou
servest,” he replied, in a tone of superstitious awe,
sinking into an Oriental posture of dread adoration.

“To thine errand quickly,” she commanded; and,
watching him till he disappeared, returned to the outside
of the palace by the way she had entered, and
going into the shadow of the tower, where Renault,
towards whom her intentions now wore a mysterious
complexion, waited with the utmost impatience for her
reappearance.

“The tidings!” he gasped, seizing her arm as she
approached.

“As I would have them. The crisis for thy presence
has arrived! Follow me!”

“Past the guards?” he demanded, with surprise,
as she boldly crossed an angle of the Place d'Armes,
where citizens and soldiers off duty were listening in
groups to the governor's band, which was filling the
square with martial and stirring music.

“Do not hesitate. Come boldly on! Thou canst
not enter in safety the way I came.”

Surprised, yet not intimidated by the danger he incurred
in exposing himself thus openly, with a price
set upon his head, he obeyed her. Partly concealing

[figure description] Page 149.[end figure description]

his features with the cape of the short capote he wore,
he passed through the guards by her side unchallenged,
though not without being, from his strange
companionship, an object of curiosity. The Moor
was standing on the last step of the stone staircase as
the sorceress, with Renault by her side, mounted the
flight of steps. In a moment afterward, Renault,
whose feet were winged by the loud voice of the infuriated
count as he seized upon Estelle to separate her
from his victim, was in the presence of the Spaniard
at the very crisis of the most imminent peril. From
that moment until guarded prisoners to their own
dwelling, the fate of both brother and sister is known.

Renault felt happy even as a prisoner when he reflected
that Azèlie was safe, and that, ere she could fall
a victim to the deferred passion of a lawless tyrant,
she might yet be offered up a sacrifice on the shrine of
virgin purity. On taking possession of his habitation
again, the court of which now echoed strangely to the
tread of sentinels, he reflected in great perplexity upon
the singular conduct of the enchantress. She had
clearly manifested an interest in him, yet it was by her
agency he had been made captive. She had shown a
singular regard for Azèlie, yet by her means the trial,
so certain to result in the condemnation of the accused,
had been determined on.

“Why,” thought he, “did she not exert that wonderful
power she possesses over this savage Spaniard,
by demanding and securing for her both liberty and a
cessation of his persecution. Nevertheless, I feel a
disposition to trust her; but it is because, perhaps,
that there is none else to trust save Heaven!” He
thus mused with himself; and then, kneeling by the
couch of his sister, implored the protection and guidance
of that Heaven for one so dear to him, so beset
by danger, and so borne down with such a weight of
sorrow.

From the gate of Renault's dwelling, whither she
had accompanied the palanquin, the sorceress took her
way in the direction of the bounds of the city; and

[figure description] Page 150.[end figure description]

entering the mansion from which she had issued with
Renault, in a few seconds was outside of the walls,
walking with rapid strides towards a group of horsemen,
who seemed to have rode near the town for the
purpose of reconnoitring. One of them saw her and
spurred towards her. It was Charleval, the companion
in arms of Renault, who, during the hour's mysterious
absence of his friend and chief, had become so
impatient as to meditate setting fire to the gates and
entering the city, believing he must have been betrayed
by the mysterious being who had commanded
him to follow her. The others of the group were De
Thoyras, who had arrived after Renault's departure
with forty chasseurs, Gobin, and the trumpeter Boviedo,
the two latter mounted upon the same steed; Gobin
having generously restored to his paunchy friend the
animal of which he had despoiled him, on finding him,
upon his return from the fortress, sitting on the ground
where he had cast himself, sadly bewailing his loss.

“Where is our chief?” demanded Charleval, on
coming up to her.

“In prison,” she said, firmly.

“This is thy work, hag! Thy treachery hath cost
thee thy life,” cried Charleval, presenting a pistol at
her head.

“Nay, cousin Charleval,” cried Gobin, galloping up
at the instant astride behind Boviedo, and striking up
the pistol, “it were worth thy soul to harm mother
Beelzebub.”

“I fear him not,” she said, without being moved at
her imminent peril. “If thou art the chief in the absence
of Renault,” she continued, addressing the impatient
Charleval, “it is with thee my business lies.
Know that Osma the Spaniard hath a lawless passion
for Azèlie the Quadroone, and this night hath stolen
her from her chamber and borne her to his palace.”

“This I know: and the licentious Spaniard had better
have formed a harem with every fair quadroone in
the province than placed eyes on Azèlie. Not a sword
in Louisiana will rest in its scabbard until she be rescued
or avenged.”

[figure description] Page 151.[end figure description]

“This is the spirit I would see awakened. Renault
was admitted by me through a secret passage and conducted
to the palace. There was no moment for delay,
and his single arm was of more avail than thy
small force of horsemen, with the whole Spanish army
to withstand thee. It was in part to save the massacre
of yonder horsemen that I took him alone. He rescued
his sister from dishonour, but is himself made
prisoner.”

“This is both good and ill news! He must be rescued,
or the blood of another victim will glut the vengeance
of the Spanish demon,” cried Charleval, with
determination.

“Thou art too impetuous,” she said, sternly. “Osma's
day of retribution is at hand. Know that, defeated
in possessing Azèlie, he hath claimed both herself
and Renault to be slaves, and by a certain parchment
hath sworn to make good his claim. They
have appealed to the tribunal, and on the sixth day
from this their trial is to take place. In the mean
while, both are imprisoned in their own dwelling, which
is strongly guarded.”

“This is villany most deep and subtle,” exclaimed
Charleval through his clinched teeth.

“Hear! The thousand savage warriors Renault
informs me you have sent for will be here by the fifth
night. Till then, retire to thy fortress, and augment
thy numbers with true men. The tribunal will be
open at ten on the morning of the sixth day. At that
hour be at the head of thy forces within yonder forest,
but let nor plume nor steel-point be seen from the
walls. The whole of the Spanish troops at the same
hour will be drawn up in the Place d'Armes to protect
the cabildo, while sitting, from any outbreak of popular
feeling on account of unjust judgment. Few will
be left to guard the gates, and all men's minds will be
bent on affairs within rather than without the city.
At this crisis I will meet thee, and secretly conduct thy
forces into the town. Then disposing them at hand
near the precincts of the hall of council, thou mayst

[figure description] Page 152.[end figure description]

thyself enter it and witness the trial; for I would have
all men behold the judgment of Osma.”

“Woman, who art thou?”

“The friend of Renault and Azèlie. Wouldst thou
know more to give me thy confidence?”

“'Tis enough; Renault hath spoken to me of thee,
and himself trusted thee. He shall not be sacrificed
by any hesitation on the part of his friends. It shall
be as thou sayest. At ten on St. Michael's day, yonder
frowning line of forest shall hold within its spreading
arms sixteen hundred warriors.”

“And ten minutes afterward they shall be within
the walls, moving silently and swiftly towards the palace,
armed with the judgment of the guilty. Depart,
and gather thy strength. The night wears apace, and
each moment now is as a day to thee.”

“Farewell, wonderful and mysterious woman!
Whoever and whatever thou art, I know thou hast
given Osma and the city into our hands!”

The sorceress made no reply, but, waving him impatiently
to depart, he once more bade her adieu, and,
accompanied by the others, including the jester, galloped
towards the squadron of horse which was drawn
up in a solid column on the edge of the woods. On
reaching it he gave a single brief order, and the whole
troop, wheeling to the right, moved at a fast trot into
the wood, and were shortly afterward lost to the eye
and ear.

She looked after them until the last faint rumble of
the fall of a thousand hoofs had ceased, and then slowly
and thoughtfully, as if weighing over again the
plans she had projected, returned to the hut and entered
the city. When the heavy tongue of the Cathedral
bell had sounded the first stroke of twelve, she
secretly entered the palace through the panel in the
Moorish casement by which she had formerly gained
access to the interior, and, ere it had sounded the last
deep note, she was in the marble gallery, gliding like a
spectre along its sides in the direction of the private
door leading to the dungeons. All was silent as the

[figure description] Page 153.[end figure description]

tomb. Osma slept on his guilty pillow; Estelle was
in her chamber, but seated by the lattice in her nightrobe,
thinking of Renault, and devising some plan for
his escape.

The Moor was not at his post; and, while she waited
for him, a groan, mingled with an execration, startled
her. It was from Rascas, who lay on a pallet in the
antechamber of the cabinet, suffering from his wound.
The next instant she was by his pillow of pain. A
faint lamp at his bed's head shed a ghastly light upon
his countenance. His eyes were shut, and she turned
back her cowl from her face and touched him. He
then opened them and gazed upon her, at first with a
vacant look; but intelligence lightened his glance, and
he cried with fear,

“Away, accursed sorceress! Hast thou come to
force me to sell my soul!” and he covered his eyes
with his hands, as if he would shut out the sight of
her, while his whole frame shuddered.

“Ha, ha! Rascas the assassin, as men call thee,
dost thou have hope for thy soul, that thou tremblest
for it?”

“I am going to die!” he said, as if under the extreme
of mortal fear, and wholly overcome with mental
horror.

“And now thou wouldst play the coward, who hast
played the villain so bravely. Didst thou not know
thou wouldst one day die, that death hath now taken
thee by surprise?”

“In full life I feared it not. It seemed a long way
off—beyond the utmost limits of old age.”

“Thou didst think all men mortal but thyself. Thus
it is, and death ever comes to all unexpectedly. It
has thus come to thee, and methinks thou art poorly
prepared to meet it.”

“What shall I do?” he cried, with miserable eagerness,
which could ill conceal the hopeless despair beneath
it.

“Do as I bid thee, and thou shalt live.”

“Live!” he repeated, seizing her hand and wildly
pressing it to his lips.

[figure description] Page 154.[end figure description]

“Live, and live to repent!”

“Give me only life—I care not for repentance!
Oh, if I could know I should not die now—die now!”
he repeated, lifting himself to his elbow, and anxiously
reading her face with his feverish eyes. “Give me
only life, and I laugh at repentance! ha, ha, ha! Oh,
life, life, LIFE!” he continued to repeat, as the Arabian
dying for thirst in the desert cries “Water, water,
water!”

She surveyed him a few moments with a look of
scornful contempt, and then said in a deep voice,

“Thou knowest the secret crimes of thy master's
life.”

“Who hath told thee?” he demanded, with fear.

“It matters not. This knowledge may save thy
life.”

“How?” he eagerly demanded, his desire to live
overcoming the agony of his wound, which only betrayed
itself in the involuntary contractions of the
muscles of his face.

“By bearing testimony against him.”

“Will this give me life? Will it?”

“I have learned from the report of the surgeon the
condition of thy wound. It is mortal for all the skill
of any chirurgeon. He hath said you will die!”

“Save, give me life, and I will do what thou wilt,
were it to bury my knife in my master's heart!”

“Ha, ha! Thou wert penitent but now for thy
crimes, and thou wouldst purchase longer life by adding
to them.”

“So that I live, I care not for the price. Put death
off now! save me now!” he cried, with an eloquence
of fear that astonished her, while it excited her contempt.

“Though surgeon's skill will not avail thee, mine
will. Swear that thou wilt answer truth against thy
master when thou shalt be called upon, and I will exert
my power to save thee from death.”

“I swear.”

“I little heed thy oath. Know that the ointment I

[figure description] Page 155.[end figure description]

shall apply to thy wound is a deadly poison. Six days
it must be applied, morning and evening, with the rising
and setting of the sun. The seventh day the patient
would die a mass of corruption but for a counterpoison,
which, for seven days more applied to the
wound, perfecteth a cure.”

“If thou shouldst fail me on the seventh day—”

“Then thou wouldst become a livid corpse, so that
no man could look upon thee.”

“I will not trust thee, fiendish enchantress!”

“Be it so. Thou wilt not live to the third day from
this in thy present state.”

The assassin shuddered, hid his face in the bed-covering,
and writhed with intense misery, both of mind
and body. At length, groaning heavily and hopelessly,
he cried,

“Apply thy medicament, woman, and my testimony
shall be thine.”

She drew from her girdle a small puch, that, among
other articles, contained a crystal vial holding a pale,
amber-coloured oil, which, on removing the silver stopper,
filled the chamber with an extremely pungent, yet
not an unpleasant odour. After cleansing the wound
in his side, she poured the healing fluid upon it, and
bound it skilfully up. He felt instant relief; and,
after pressing her hands with a grateful look, suddenly,
from a total cessation of pain, fell into a deep sleep.
She contemplated for a moment the effect of her skill,
and then sought once more the private outlet from the
gallery. A few seconds afterward the Moor appeared,
having been waiting at the door of the palace for
her entrance that way, and now betrayed evident surprise
at finding her already at the place appointed.
Receiving impatiently his explanation for his delay,
she sternly bade him lead her to the cell of his prisoner.

p160-415 CHAPTER XIII. SCENE BETWEEN THE LOVERS.

[figure description] Page 156.[end figure description]

Don Henrique had been left, by the refined cruelty
of Rascas, who proved a faithful successor to those
Fathers of the Inquisition, whose inhumanity had framed
the iron vaults beneath the foundations of the prison,
chained by the waist and hands to iron staples in the
side of the vault. He could now neither stand nor sit;
and, fatigued by sorrow and overcome by his miserable
condition, he had fallen into a troubled sleep while
suspended, as it were, from the wall. A massive golden
crucifix lay at his feet, which Osma had left with
him in mockery.

He had given up all hopes of life; and, striving to
forget every earthly tie, fixed his mind on that world
into which he felt he was soon to enter. Yet in his
dreams he was again in the boudoir of Azèlie, kneeling
at her feet, and breathing his passion into her listening
ear; was once more in the hall of his fathers, and
wandering over the hills of sunny Spain. The spirit
that guided his dreams was merciful, and presented to
his mind only objects that were agreeable and most opposite
to the mournful realities of his waking hours.
From the midst of one of these pleasant visions he was
startled by the clanging of chains and the removing of
bars and bolts.

“Alas! Heaven be merciful to me!” he ejaculated,
awaking to the reality of his unhappy condition.
“Now is the assassin at hand whose steel will be the
key to let my weary spirit into the world beyond!
Must I die here like an ox! Oh, for one good sword,
and an arm unchained to wield it, that I might fall
like a man and a knight!”

The door of his dungeon opened, and the Moor

[figure description] Page 157.[end figure description]

appeared, holding a shaded lantern in his hand, followed
by a tall figure wrapped in a gray mantle, which he
at once knew must be the sorceress who had taken
such an interest in the fate of Azèlie, and also in his
own. Hope—that blessed angel and Heaven's best
gift to poor humanity in this sad world—was instantly
reawakened in his breast by her appearance. She
paused on the threshold of the cell, and with a look
of compassion and sympathy, that contrasted singularly
with her harsh, sepulchral features, surveyed him in silence.
At length she advanced, and, kneeling, took his
hand, and said with reverence,

“Unhappy prince! Thy cruel captivity is now
ended! Alas! that I should behold a prince of Spain
in such a state of degradation and misery! Unlock
these chains and cast them into the sea, that the record
of this dishonour may not exist on the earth!”
she cried, with stern indignation.

Sulem obeyed, and Don Henrique stood erect, unbound.
“Is this a dream?” he asked, with troubled
doubt.

“Thou art free, noble signor. He who hath put
thee here will soon take thy place.”

“Ha! hath the city rebelled?”

“No; but Justice hath come to her seat.”

“You speak mysteriously!”

“It shall be made as clear as sunlight, prince, to
thee and every man.”

“Prince! I did then hear aright! How knowest
thou me?”

“If thy secret be to six, doth it surprise thee that a
seventh hath it? Be it enough that I know thee, and
wherefore thou art a wanderer from the palace of thy
fathers. Follow me, and thou shalt learn all thou
wouldst know.”

“Then tell me here—here, before thou movest,” he
cried, catching her by the mantle, “what of—of—”

“The maiden whose love thou hast won! Be happy,
prince! She is safe, and in all honour beneath
her own roof!”

[figure description] Page 158.[end figure description]

“And thou hast saved her?” he cried, scarcely
crediting what he had heard.

“I have, noble signor.”

“Then Heaven bless thee—bless thee! for—for I
cannot!” he articulated with choked utterance, and,
falling on his knees, kissed her robe and burst into
tears.

In twenty minutes afterward Don Henrique had
Azèlie folded in his arms, whom at length he released
only to receive the fraternal embrace of Renault. The
Moor, whom the sorceress had enslaved to her own
will, had treacherously admitted them in the face of
the unsuspecting guards, who silently acknowledged
the seal of their commander in his hands, as well as
the scarce less authoritative command of the confidential
slave. Having witnessed their meeting, the
sorceress departed alone and unquestioned.

Estelle sat by her lattice until long after twelve,
communing with herself upon the fate of Renault and
of his sister; but the former was uppermost in her
thoughts; and each moment love for the handsome
and spirited youth grew stronger in her heart from
that it fed upon.

Suddenly she rose; and, casting a cloak about her,
and otherwise disguising herself as she had once before
done, she stole from her chamber, and, unobserved,
reached her father's cabinet.

He slept where an hour or two before he had cast
himself upon the ottoman, and a tall silver candelabrum
with wax lights alone burned upon his escritoir.
She softly approached, and from a secret drawer of
the secretaire took two of several private seals it contained.
Retiring, she hastily left the palace, making
use of one of the signets in passing the guard. Then
speaking to a soldier, she demanded to be directed to
the residence of Renault the Quadroon. From his
ready knowledge of this habitation, she discovered
that the recent circumstances had made it known to
most of the governor's guard. Having learned from
him its situation, she departed in search of it. After

[figure description] Page 159.[end figure description]

traversing a part of one street, and turning an angle
or two of others, she came suddenly upon a sentry,
who challenged her from the foot of a garden wall on
the opposite side of the way. Ignorant of the countersign,
she knew not what to answer, and trembled
lest she should be discovered. Her hesitation was
observed by the soldier, who challenged a second
time, at the same time bringing his piece to his
shoulder.

“Camarada!” she answered, going towards him.

“Stand and give the countersign,” he demanded, as
she reached the middle of the way.

“Throw up your piece, sirrah!” she cried, in an
authoritative tone, advancing upon him. “Do you dare
menace a messenger of the governor? Behold my
authority!” she added, holding out the signet.

He advanced a step and took it from her, and, after
carefully examining it, returned it. “You might as
easily, signor, have given the countersign, if it is such
a long-winded words as `Death to Osma's foes,' as to
have given me this trouble,” he muttered; and, shouldering
his piece, he bade her pass on.

With alacrity, she cheerfully obeyed, and was soon
at the treble-guarded portal of the dwelling. Here,
making use of the countersign she had so unexpectedly
obtained possession of, as well as of the signet, she
was admitted into the court, muffled to the eyes as she
was, without question or hesitation on the part of the
sentinels. Azèlie's boudoir was pointed out to her,
and the captain of the guard, accompanying her to
within a few feet of the curtained door, returned again
to his post. She paused. Her heart beat tumultuously.
She had come thither scarcely reflecting on
her object in doing so, and had laid no plan of conduct
for her guidance. The danger of Renault and
his sister had inspired her to take a step at which she
now trembled with maidenly shame and hesitation.
They were in peril from her father's united passion
and vengeance, and she had suggested to her mind, as
she sat in her chamber, the idea to rescue them through

[figure description] Page 160.[end figure description]

the agency of the signets which she had afterward taken
for the purpose.

But, now that the moment of action had arrived—
that a curtain alone separated her from the young
courreur chef, who had inspired her with so tender
and deep a passion—her heart failed. She leaned
against a column of the cloister for support, and summoned
all her strength of mind and native energy of
character to her aid. At length she became collected,
and formed the resolution to present herself boldly before
them, offer them the way to escape, conduct them
through the guards disguised, and, by the aid of the
countersign and signet, out of the city gates to liberty.

“I may never see him more,” she thought; “and he
will have departed without knowing he has left so true
a heart behind him. Perhaps he would scorn my
love! Yet his eye told me otherwise, modestly as he
sought to shade his love beneath the downcast lid. I
will nevertheless sacrifice my love to his freedom.
That he is worthy of my affection—that he is not of the
race that claims him—my heart, as well as the language
of that mysterious woman, doth tell me. No,
I have too proud a heart to cast my love unworthily.
I know he could not be debased, or he would not have
awakened an interest in the bosom of the daughter of
the house of Osma.”

Thus run her thoughts as she paused with her grasp
upon the curtain that was dropped before the entrance.
She was about to lift it, when the voice of Renault
within arrested her hand as suddenly as if it had been
paralyzed.

“It is certain, dearest sister,” he said, in a melancholy
voice, “that this trial, which this wicked Spaniard
hath appointed, will be a mockery like that of the
councillors. We can hope for no justice but from
Heaven.”

“Can that fatal parchment by no means be taken
from him, Renault?” asked an earnest voice, which
she recognised to be that of Don Hernique.

“If it could be done, it would overthrow, in the eye

[figure description] Page 161.[end figure description]

of justice, his claim; which, with this in his hand, he
may sustain where false judges and the tools of his
will sit in judgment; for every honest judge would
see that his claim is founded on injustice and tyranny.”

“Yet, with this evidence in his possession,” said
Don Henrique, “the law must sustain him in his
claim without taking into consideration the abstract
question of the purpose he has in view in maintaining
and defending it. I fear it will go against you, notwithstanding
the hope held out by this wonderful sorceress.”

“She did not say that it would not be decided
against us, brother,” said the silvery and touching
voice of Azèlie; “but that, if it were, the judgment
would fall on his head instead of ours.”

“Thou hast great faith, sweet Azèlie, in this woman,”
said Don Henrique; “and I must acknowledge I
think she hath some plan in view for your safety and
Osma's shame. Nevertheless, if we could get possession
of this parchment before the day of trial, we
might, perhaps, through the aid of this sorceress, defeat
him.”

“I wish it could be done,” said Renault; “I have
little faith in her; for I have thought that my arrest
is owing to her. Indeed, had she led me, with all my
men, into the town, Osma would have been my prisoner
instead of my being his!”

“And wouldst thou then have saved me, brother, as
thou didst do?” asked Azèlie, reprovingly.

“Nay, perhaps it is best as it is,” he answered; “for
I should have been reluctant, with my sincere passion
for that lovely creature, his daughter, to have done
him outrage. For her sake, methinks I could submit
to any wrong that touched not Azèlie.”

“She is a noble girl, and I have seen much of her
on shipboard,” said Don Henrique; “not to have
been ruined for any man's love, by her father's masculine
method of educating her, shows that she possesses
no ordinary mind. Didst thou tell her of thy love?”

[figure description] Page 162.[end figure description]

“Nay—I am a quadroon, and could not insult her,”
he said, bitterly.

“Thou mighst have told it without shame to her
or thyself; for methinks I have never met a man better
fitted to be worn in a noble maiden's heart than
thou!”

“She would have scorned me.”

“Renault,” answered Don Henrique, seriously,
“from some words that fell from the sorceress, who
seems to know all things hidden from common eyes, I
do not believe thee to be a quadroon.”

“Not a quadroon, signor?”

“No.”

“Who and what am I, then?”

“I cannot tell. Doubtless she will disclose it to
thee, as she has promised to reveal, if thou wilt let me
love thy gentle sister here, who I am,” he said, smiling.

“Would it could be proved so! But my mother!”

“I do not believe she is thy mother.”

“I would, indeed, it could be proven so; yet I would
not,” he added, “I would not it should be thus; for I
should lose this sweet sister then.”

Estelle, whose eager interest in their conversation
led her slightly to lift the curtain, beheld him then
tenderly bend over and embrace Azèlie, who, with
Don Henrique, was reclining on gorgeous rugs at his
feet. She gazed on the group, with a desire to take
the place in it her heart had chosen. Suddenly, as if
impelled by an irresistible impulse to obey her wishes,
she drew aside the hangings, and was in the midst ere
she well knew it. Don Henrique and Renault both
sprang to their feet on seeing an intruder enveloped to
the brow in a Spanish roquelaure, with a broad sombrero
flapping over his eyes. But they were both
without arms, and only gazed upon him with suspicion
and defiance.

“Nay, Don Henrique,” she said, turning with instinctive
delicacy to the young Spaniard, instead of

[figure description] Page 163.[end figure description]

addressing herself to Renault, “be not alarmed! I pray
you both pardon the step; it has in it your safety.”

She removed the hat and dropped the mantle from
her shoulders as she spoke, but not before Renault had
recognised the disguise, and the voice that no disguise
could hide from his true ear.

“Senorita Estelle!” exclaimed Don Henrique, on
beholding her.

“My deliverer!” cried Azèlie, flying to her to embrace
her feet; but she prevented her, and caught her
in her arms.

Renault stood by silent and sorrowful. Duty and
honour bade him hide his love, and smother it ere it
should break out. But she had overheard the confession
of his love to Don Henrique. She now saw his
embarrassment—construed his feelings—read his inmost
soul. She lifted her eyes, and they encountered
his. With a smile she then advanced towards him;
and with a graceful dignity of manner, and an open
frankness, yet modesty of speech that was extraordinary,
said,

“Noble Renault, I have unawares overheard your
words in which you confessed your love for the daughter
of your foe. The time and circumstances allow no
disguise, no empty and heartless forms and passages
of ceremony. If it will make thy brow less sad and
thy heart lighter, know from my lips that thy love is
returned—nay, had its birth with thine! If thou art
proved, as I trust and believe thou wilt be, one of my
own race, however lowly be thy lot in it, my hand
shall be thine if thou demandest it. But if thou art
of the race of bondsmen, which Heaven forefend!
though my heart is and must ever be thine, my bridegroom
will be the church. Wilt thou receive my love
on these hard terms, which only as a true and noble
Spanish maiden it becometh me to offer, and which, if
I know thee aright, it beseemeth thee only to accept?”

“Dearest and most noble lady,” said Renault, kneeling
at her feet, “thou hast made me the happiest of
beings. This ingenuous confession on thy part, which

[figure description] Page 164.[end figure description]

my ignoble condition would never have led me to
make, shows the greatness of thy mind as well as the
depth and purity of thy love. Thou hast well understood
me. Knowing my degraded birth, never would
my love for thee have allowed me to forget it. On no
other terms than those thou hast named should I have
dared to think of one spotless and noble as thyself.
Thou, a Castilian by birth, of a noble race, of far and
high descent, of unblemished blood, whose rank and
beauty would command the homage of the highborn
and noble, thou to speak thus to me! Lady! I am at
once humbled and exalted!”

She extended her hand, much moved at his words,
and with reverence and devotion he pressed it to his
lips.

“I trust, Don Henrique,” she said, turning to him
with a becoming embarrassment, “that the strangeness
of our circumstances and situations, added to the unsettled
state of these times, which may excuse many
departures from conventional rules, will excuse me in
your eyes from overstepping the bounds of decorum?”

“Nay, Estelle, there needeth no other apology than
that thy love hath plainly given,” he said, with a smile.

“I need not ask from thee wherefore thou hast lingered
here, under plea of being wounded, Sir Cavalier,”
she retorted, glancing her eyes from himself to
Azèlie, who betrayed so much ingenuous confusion at
her significant words, that Estelle, after admiring her
a moment, suddenly changed the current of ideas by
saying abruptly, yet playfully, to Renault,

“Think not, signor, I came hither to declare my
love to thee! 'Twas but the overhearing of thine own
confession that drew mine from me. I came hither
to rescue thee and thine: now our conversation takes
a serious turn! 'Twere madness to wait here for the
trial. My father hath the wills of the members of the
cabildo in his own hands; they are his creatures! It
therefore matters nothing whether he be its president
or not. It is a hard saying for the daughter of a
dearly-loved father, but he will have you condemned!

[figure description] Page 165.[end figure description]

Your fate is sealed in his heart! To wait, therefore,
is to sacrifice yourselves. Fly!”

“We are prisoners and unarmed, dearest lady,”
said Renault; “flight were impossible.”

“I have here the means. The password of your
guard is, must I say it to thee? `Death to Osma's
foes!' This signet will open every barrier between
you and liberty.”

“Fair Estelle,” said Don Henrique, after seeing
from Renault's face that his opinion was the same with
his own, “this plan may be feasible, yet it is attended
with great danger. Gratitude is due to you for this
self-sacrifice, and imminent risk on your part to propose
and offer it. To be retaken would be certain
ruin and death; while it would appear to the world
like guilt, the consciousness of justly being in bondage
to him, and he would make use of it to the degradation
of his victims and the enlargement of his own triumph.
Besides—and I have great faith in her—this
Moorish sorceress, who has so much power over thy
father, has given us hopes that the trial will result to
the honour of one party and the disgrace of the other.”

“That is my father! This, I must tell you, is what
I fear. It is this that would lead me to aid the escape
of both, that whatever evil this dreadful woman hath
ready to pour upon his head may be averted—”

“And fall upon the heads of Renault and Azeliè,”
said Don Henrique, with bitter reproof.

“Oh, whither—how shall I turn? 'Twill wring my
sould either way,” she cried, with anguish. “Aid me,
Don Henrique!”

“Let things take their course. Thou hast confessed
thy interest in Renault. Hast thou not, then, a
hope depending on this very trial—a proof to be substantiated?
Let events flow on; but let us prepare
for them, and, if it is possible, lessen thy father's power
to do harm. We look upon thee now as of our own
party, how much soever thou lovest thy father; and
thou mayst serve us and thyself with no more treason
to him than virtue will forgive. To his cabinet thou

[figure description] Page 166.[end figure description]

hast free access at all hours. The parchment of manumission
which he now holds must be obtained, and
placed in Renault's possession.”

“It will not avail, signor. He will yet call on the
trial, and demand judgment on his own oral claim.”

“Be it so. Such a decision will be unjust and without
law, and Renault and Azèlie will have the sympathy
of the people on their side. A decision supported by
the parchment would meet, notwithstanding the popularity
of Renault, with their passive acquiescence.”

“It shall be done,” said Estelle, firmly, after a moment's
reflection, during which she underwent a keen
and trying conflict between her filial duty and her love
for Renault.

She left them after saying this, and in half an hour
afterward the fatal parchment was in the possession of
Renault.

During the interval before the morning of St. Michael's
Day, the brother and sister remained imprisoned
and undisturbed in their own dwelling, with, unknown
to all save themselves, the society of Don Henrique,
who had determined to appear at the trial, and
to support his loved Azèlie in the ordeal through which
she had to pass. The sorceress, even up to the morning
of the sixth day, did not again make her appearance,
and their faith in her began to give way to doubts and
distressing fears. From Estelle, who visited them
nightly, disguised as she had been at first, they learned
that the Moor, by the direction, as they afterward understood,
of the sorceress, had reported to her father
the death of Don Henrique in prison, at which he expressed
a degree of joy that surprised her, until Don
Henrique, with as much forbearance as the subject
would admit of, related to her the cause of his displeasure
against him. While from the Moor, who had
become friendly and secretly attentive to their comfort,
they learned that the Count of Osma had ordered him,
without expressing a desire to see it, to leave the body
of his rival in the dungeon where he supposed him to
have perished, to wall up the door, cover the trapdoor

p160-426 [figure description] Page 167.[end figure description]

above with a pavement, and otherwise concealing all
traces and signs of a subterranean vault, convert his
prison into his tomb.