was this,--that a man who is supposed to be dead,
has greater facilities of escape,--and so, without at that time saying any
thing upon this subject to Isabel, I acquiesced in the proposal of changing
my quarters, and being her guest for the present.

"There cannot be a doubt," said Isabel, "that the Pope has long ago been
applied to by my husband to dissolve our marriage."

"And that his holiness has granted the petition, too," said I. "And
although ours be a new case, as it probably never happened before that the
idea of marrying was entertained by persons in solitary imprisonment,--yet
as there is here neither church nor priest, Heaven will, without doubt,
accept our vows, and bless us:" and thus did I become all but the husband
of Isabel.

Several days elapsed before it was again the turn of Isabel to watch on
the summit; meantime the food that was intended for one, was made to
suffice for two; we conversed in whispers, lest my embryo plan of escape
should be frustrated by a premature discovery of my dwelling place;
and even if I had looked to no ulterior advantages, from my change of
quarters, the society of Isabel would have been a sufficient reward for
the peril of my journey. But I had now concocted in my mind, a plan
of escape, which I hastened to put in execution, after having first
communicated it to Isabel, whose co-operation was necessary to ensure
its success.

It may have been already gathered, that the characteristic of the
punishment of solitary confinement in the towers of Tarifa, consisted in
the rigidness with which it was enforced: once admitted there, and no
human eye ever more rested upon the living form of the prisoner. The food
necessary for the preservation of life, and therefore, for the continuance
of punishment, was placed, and removed, by unseen hands; nor was the sound
of a human voice ever heard within these stone chambers. But to this, one
exception was provided: although it was the policy of the law, to punish
the living culprit thus severely, the church did not resign her claims to
the care of his soul; once accordingly, in every month, a holy tread was
heard along the secret passages, and an iron screen being thrown hack, the
confessor, a Franciscan friar, took his seat at a thick grating; behind
which nothing could be seen, though the confession of the prisoner might
pass to the ear of the holy man, and his counsel in return reach the ear,
or it might be, the heart, of the solita