retreating;
"here will I remain, in dread communion with the body of my murderer,
until it be taken hence; delay not to let this be done, else I will
speak with thee nearer anon."

The Friar being already as near to the ghost of a murdered man as he
probably desired to be, and willing to prevent the execution of this
threat of a nearer colloquy, swung the screen forward, which closed with
a tremendous clank, and the rapid footsteps of the terrified confessor
speedily died away.

"Ah, Dios!" said Isabel, "I had scarcely courage to go through my part:
when you spoke of my soul having gone to its account, I was on the point
of rising, to convince myself that I was yet living."

"Surely," returned I, "you may find courage to personate a dead woman,
when I have no hesitation in personating the ghost of a murdered man;
the stratagem succeeds; you will have but once more to play your part;
and I am much mistaken if we be not both outside of this tower before
another day shall pass over our heads;" and animated by this hope,
Isabel promised to obey my directions.

Now, it will easily be believed, that the confessor, upon leaving
the tower, would immediately communicate to the civil and spiritual
authorities, the particulars of the extraordinary interview that had
taken place; and that although doubts might at first be entertained of
the sanity of the narrator, yet, that his positive asseverations would
at length so far weigh with the alcalde, and the bishop of Ronda, who
then chanced to be making his yearly visitation to Tarifa, as to induce
them to judge with their own eyes, of the truth of what had been told to
them. I was prepared for this; and when in less than three hours, the
iron screen was heard to fall back, Isabel was again stretched upon the
ground, while I stood motionless by her side. Who were the persons that
peered through the grate, I am unable to tell, but whoever they might
be, they were quickly satisfied with their scrutiny; for when I glided
towards the grate, at the same time allowing the hood to fall partially
back, the screen was suddenly closed, and quick retiring footsteps
announced the further success of the stratagem.

However extraordinary the thing might seem, and however hard of belief,
no doubt could any longer rest upon the minds of those whom first duty,
and then incredulity, had led to the tower, that something supernatural
inhabited the chamber where lay the dead Isabel. Her, they had se