wish we could open the secret door!" I heard Monica exclaim.

"I can't even see exactly where it is now," Pilar said. "Cristobal?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Poor little Rafael; a good fellow, wasn't he?"

"Very good," I replied. To what end was she working? I wondered. But I was
not to be made wiser. Before she had time to finish the hint I heard
Carmona speaking.

"I've sent for Calmenare, who has returned, and will be here in a few
minutes," he called to me. It was like him to hurry back, so that by no
possible means could the three suspected ones reach any understanding.

The moments dragged on, and I could have lashed myself with Philip's
scourge in fury at the rashness which might involve the whole O'Donnel
family in my disaster. Never had I been able to think less clearly; but
perhaps it was the stifling atmosphere of the cell which made me feel that
fingers in a mailed glove were clenched round my temples.

Outside, voices buzzed; but those who spoke must have stood at a distance,
for I could catch no words. Then, at last, there was a new voice in the
room. Calmenare had come.

"How do you do, Don Rafael?" Pilar exclaimed, as politely as if she had
addressed an equal. "I'm glad to see you again. I've been waiting for you
impatiently. Only think, _my dear brother Cristobal, whom you know so
well_, is in that dreadful place and can't get out, because the Senor
Duque shut him in--by mistake--and broke the spring."

"I do not find that it is broken, senorita," answered the new voice.

"I couldn't make it work," Carmona said hastily.

Click! went the spring under skilled fingers. The door sliding back gave
me a rush of light and air which set me blinking for a second or two; and
there I stood at the stranger's mercy.

What I saw, when my suddenly contracted pupils expanded, was a little man
in the palace livery; a pale little man with insignificant features, and
large, steady eyes. There was absolutely no expression in his face as for
one brief instant our glances met. Then--"God be with you, Don Cristobal,"
said he. "I am glad to have been even of this slight service. I hope,
senorito, you have not suffered from lack of air?"

"Very little," said I. I held out my hand. He took it respectfully.

"Is it long since you saw each other?" asked Carmona, sallow and red by
turns.

"About two years only, Senor Duque," replied his ex-servant,
expressionless as before, and quietly respectful to all. "I could not
f