g violently and
they heard the cries of the wife; that they rushed to the room and were
met at the door by the wife, who was very pale and greatly perturbed,
and she cried out: "An apoplexy! Run for a doctor! My poor husband is
dying!" That when they entered the room they found their master lying
upon a couch, and he was dead. The doctor who was called certified that
Senor Romeral had died of cerebral congestion.

Three medical experts testified that death brought about as this one
had been could not be distinguished from apoplexy. The physician who
had been called in had not thought to look for the head of the nail,
which was concealed by the hair of the victim, nor was he in any sense
to blame for this oversight.

The judge immediately issued a warrant for the arrest of Dona Gabriela
Zahara del Valle, widow of Senor Romeral.

"Tell me," I asked the judge one day, "do you think you will ever
capture this woman?"

"I'm positive of it."

"Why?"

"Because in the midst of all these routine criminal affairs there
occurs now and then what may be termed a dramatic fatality which never
fails. To put it in another way: when the bones come out of the tomb to
testify, there is very little left for the judge to do."

In spite of the hopes of my friend, Gabriela was not found, and three
months later she was, according to the laws of Spain, tried, found
guilty, and condemned to death in her absence.

I returned home, not without promising to be with Zarco the following
year.

IV

That winter I passed in Granada. One evening I had been invited to a
great ball given by a prominent Spanish lady. As I was mounting the
stairs of the magnificent residence, I was startled by the sight of a
face which was easily distinguishable even in this crowd of southern
beauties. It was she, my unknown, the mysterious woman of the
stagecoach, in fact, No. 1, of whom I spoke at the beginning of this
narrative.

I made my way toward her, extending my hand in greeting. She recognized
me at once.

"Senora," I said, "I have kept my promise not to search for you. I did
not know I would meet you here. Had I suspected it I would have
refrained from coming, for fear of annoying you. Now that I am here,
tell me whether I may recognize you and talk to you."

"I see that you are vindictive," she answered graciously, putting her
little hand in mine. "But I forgive you. How are you?"

"In truth, I don't know. My health--that is, the health