ry criminal. The door by which the
prisoner first entered was never unbarred, until the hour when his coffin
was carried in and out.

The day now approached, when the visit of the confessor might be
expected, and I laid my plans accordingly, and executed them in the
following manner:

"Isabel," said I, as the slow tread announced the approach of the
confessor, "you must feign to be dead; spread the pallet opposite to the
grating, and lay yourself upon it."

I found some difficulty in prevailing upon Isabel to mock the king of
terrors; but, at length, I succeeded in persuading her,--by representing
that it was easier to counterfeit death than to meet it; and that to do
the one afforded the only chance of avoiding the other; and scarcely was
Isabel extended upon the floor, when the screen was heard to open upon
its harsh hinges, and the confessor to say, "erring daughter, approach."

"Father," said I, in a low sepulchral tone, at the same time advancing
noiselessly towards the grating.

"Holy St. Francis," said the confessor, in a voice of terror, and making
at the same time a retrograde movement from the grating, "'tis a man!"

"Father," said I, in the same unearthly tone, "fear nothing, it is no
man that addresses thee; well thou knowest that no fleshly form can
gain entrance here; it is not a man, but a spirit, with whom thou art
communing." As I spoke thus, I could hear the Friar rapidly commending
himself to the protection of the Holy Mother of God, and of all the
Saints; and I continued, "She whom thou camest to confess, is now beyond
the reach of thy counsel: her soul has gone to its heavy account, and
her body lieth there;" said I, gliding aside, and knowing well, that
although nothing could be seen from the cell through the grating, yet
all within was visible from the other side. "I am the ghost of the
murdered Jose Andrades;" (the husband of Isabel) and at the same time
that I made this announcement, I threw back a part of the hood that
covered my face, and the dim light from the circular hole falling upon
the upper part of the countenance, showed a visage which fasting and
confinement had already made more like the face of a dead than of
a living man, and which I had taken care to besmear with blood.

A new exclamation of horror, and still more rapid prayers, followed this
revelation.

"Here," continued I, again drawing the hood over my face, and
approaching the grate--from which I could hear the Friar