d Carmona. "Don't worry if I seem to
be gone an age. There's only one man on duty to-day who knows the secret
of this room; I asked for him when we came, but his comrade said he was
away on leave till four o'clock. It must be that now, and I'll have him
here as soon as possible. He will be the more pleased to set you free, as
he's an old friend of yours. You remember little Rafael Calmenare?"

I was silent, seeing, as if by the glare of lightning, the whole design of
the trap, and seeming to see also the triumph which must be in Carmona's
eyes. But the pause had not lengthened to a second, when I heard Pilar's
voice, speaking also close to the door.

"Of course you remember, Cristobal. Rafael Calmenare of the Duke's
_ganaderia_. But it's a long time since he went away."

"After he was gored by Nero and lost his health, through the influence of
a friend at Court I got him a place here," I heard Carmona say. Then
raising his voice for my ears, he went on, "Poor Rafael will be pleased to
see you again. You must have played with him when a boy. I'm off to find
him now."

Silence followed these last words. I could picture the consternation of
Dick and Pilar. Neither could do anything to help me, nor could I help
myself. I could but wait in this suffocating black hole for the moment
when a stranger should give me light, and exclaim, "This is not Don
Cristobal!"

Almost I admired Carmona for his quick wit. After a few moments of rage,
at sight of the suspected man of Burgos Cathedral on his track in the red
motor-car, the thought of the Escurial and his old servant must have
sprung into his mind.

Had Calmenare been available at first, Carmona would have been spared the
trouble of shutting me up in Philip the Bigot's torture-chamber; but hard
pressed for an excuse to keep us at the Escurial till his man came back,
he had put me where I could be kept while needed. And now that he was gone
in search of Rafael, we three loyal comrades could not discuss the
situation, because of Lady Vale-Avon's presence.

A brilliant stroke of Carmona's to have me betrayed by another than
himself, so that Monica might not bear him a grudge! Who was this person
masquerading as an officer of the Spanish army? would be the first
question of the police. And the answer need not be long in coming. The
Duke had reason to congratulate himself; I had been a fool to drop like a
fly into his net, and now that I was in, I saw no way out.

"Oh, how I