I join in it because there is no other way in the world by which
justice can be gained. What does the law of England care for the
rivers of blood shed years ago in San Pedro, or for the shipload of
treasure which this man has stolen? To you they are like crimes
committed in some other planet. But _we_ know. We have learned the
truth in sorrow and in suffering. To us there is no fiend in hell like
Juan Murillo, and no peace in life while his victims still cry for
vengeance."

"No doubt," said Holmes, "he was as you say. I have heard that he was
atrocious. But how are you affected?"

"I will tell you it all. This villain's policy was to murder, on one
pretext or another, every man who showed such promise that he might in
time come to be a dangerous rival. My husband--yes, my real name is
Signora Victor Durando--was the San Pedro minister in London. He met
me and married me there. A nobler man never lived upon earth.
Unhappily, Murillo heard of his excellence, recalled him on some
pretext, and had him shot. With a premonition of his fate he had
refused to take me with him. His estates were confiscated, and I was
left with a pittance and a broken heart.

"Then came the downfall of the tyrant. He escaped as you have just
described. But the many whose lives he had ruined, whose nearest and
dearest had suffered torture and death at his hands, would not let the
matter rest. They banded themselves into a society which should never
be dissolved until the work was done. It was my part after we had
discovered in the transformed Henderson the fallen despot, to attach
myself to his household and keep the others in touch with his
movements. This I was able to do by securing the position of governess
in his family. He little knew that the woman who faced him at every
meal was the woman whose husband he had hurried at an hour's notice
into eternity. I smiled on him, did my duty to his children, and bided
my time. An attempt was made in Paris and failed. We zig-zagged
swiftly here and there over Europe to throw off the pursuers and
finally returned to this house, which he had taken upon his first
arrival in England.

"But here also the ministers of justice were waiting. Knowing that he
would return there, Garcia, who is the son of the former highest
dignitary in San Pedro, was waiting with two trusty companions of
humble station, all three fired with the same reasons for revenge. He
could do little during the day