realized that in
his excess of zeal he had fallen into his own trap. For, having
established the custom of remitting a certain amount to the Bishop
each month, he must not resent now the implication of dishonesty when
the remittances fell off, or ceased altogether. He took the letter to
Rosendo. "_Bien_, Padre," said the latter slowly, "the time has come.
I set out for Guamoco at dawn."

In the days that followed, Jose could frame no satisfactory reply to
Wenceslas, and so the latter wrote to the Alcalde. Don Mario eagerly
seized the proffered opportunity to ingratiate himself into
ecclesiastical favor. Rosendo was again in the hills, he wrote, and
with supplies not purchased from him. Nor had he been given even a
hint of Rosendo's mission, whether it be to search again for La
Libertad, or not. There could be no doubt, he explained in great
detail, of Jose's connivance with Rosendo, and of his unauthorized
conduct in the matter of educating the girl, Carmen, who, he made no
doubt, was the daughter of Padre Diego--now, alas! probably cold in
death at the violent hands of the girl's foster-father, and with the
priest Jose's full approbation. The letter cost the portly Don Mario
many a day of arduous labor; but it brought its reward in another
inquiry from Cartagena, and this time a request for specific details
regarding Carmen.

Don Mario bestrode the clouds. He dropped his customary well-oiled
manner, and carried his head with the air of a conqueror. His thick
lips became regnant, imperious. He treated his compatriots with
supercilious disdain. And to Jose he would scarce vouchsafe even a
cold nod as they passed in the street. Again he penned a long missive
to Cartagena, in which he dilated at wearisome length upon the
extraordinary beauty of the girl, as well as her unusual mental
qualities. He urged immediate action, and suggested that Carmen be
sent to the convent in Mompox.

* * * * *

Wenceslas mused long over the Alcalde's letters. Many times he smiled
as he read. Then he sent for a young clerical agent of the See, who
was starting on a mission to Bogota, and requested that he stop off a
day at Badillo and go to Simiti to report on conditions in that
parish. Incidentally, also, to gather what data he might as to the
family of one Rosendo Ariza.

In due course of time the agent made his report. The parish of Simiti
stood in need of a new _Cura_, he said. And the girl-