ty hand the novice searched amidst the folds of
her robe, and drew forth a small leathern case, closed with clasps of
silver. She touched the spring, and took out a miniature, upon which she
cast a rapid and wild glance; then, lifting her eyes to Calderon, she
cried, "It must be so--it is, it is my father!" and fell motionless at
his feet.

Calderon did not for some moments heed the condition of the novice: that
chamber, the meditated victim, the present time, the coming evil--all
were swept away from his soul; he was transported back into the past,
with the two dread Spirits, Memory and Conscience! His knees knocked
together, his aspect was livid, the cold drops stood upon his brow; he
muttered incoherently and then bent down, and took up the picture. It
was the face of a man in the plain garb of a Salamanca student, and in
the first flush of youth; the noble brow, serene and calm, and stamped
alike with candour and courage; the smooth cheek, rich with the hues
of health; the lips, parting in a happy smile, and eloquent of joy and
hope; it was the face of that wily, grasping, ambitious, unscrupulous
man, when life had yet brought no sin; it was, as if the ghost of youth
were come back to accuse the crimes of manhood! The miniature fell from
his hand--he groaned aloud. Then gazing on the prostrate form of the
novice, he said--"Poor wretch! can I believe that thou art indeed of
mine own race and blood; or rather, does not nature, that stamped these
lineaments on thy countenance, deceive and mock me? If she, thy mother,
lied, why not nature herself?"

He raised the novice in his arms, and gazed long and wistfully upon her
lifeless, but almost lovely features. She moved not--she scarcely seemed
to breathe; yet he fancied he felt her embrace tightening round him--he
fancied he heard again the voice that had hailed him "FATHER!" His heart
beat aloud, the divine instinct overpowered all things, he pressed a
passionate kiss upon her forehead, and his tears fell fast and warm upon
her cheek. But again the dark remembrance crossed him, and he shuddered,
placed the novice hastily on one of the couches, and shouted aloud.

The Jew appeared and was ordered to summon Jacinta. A young woman of the
same persuasion, and of harsh and forbidding exterior, entered, and to
her care Calderon briefly consigned the yet insensible Beatriz.

While Jacinta unlaced the dress, and chafed the temples, of the novice,
Calderon seemed buried in glo