ll me first, Inez, if it is he who brought you here; who acted so
nobly to me, and bade adieu to you but two days since?"

"Yes, the same! will you refuse to assist me now?"

"No, by our blessed Virgin! I will do all an old woman like me can do;
yet united, Inez, we shall be strong."

Wrapping their mantillas about them, they noiselessly proceeded to
the Plaza. Darkness had closed in, and happily they met not even
a straggling soldier, for all, with instinctive dread, shunned the
horrid scene. They paused as Senora Berara stumbled over a dead body,
and well-nigh slipped in blood:

"Jesu Maria! my very bones ache with horror! this is no place for me.
Senorita, how will you know the body? Oh! let us make haste to leave
here!"

"Hush! do you see a white spot gleaming yonder? Nay, don't clutch my
arm, it is only my handerchief. I laid it there to mark the place.
Come on, step lightly, or you will press the dead."

With some difficulty they made their way along the damp, slippery
ground, now and then catching at each other for support. Inez paused
on reaching her mark, and bent down for several moments; then raising
herself she whispered:

"Senora, I have wrapped his cloak tightly about him, lift the corners
near his feet, while I carry his head. Be careful, lift gently, and do
not let the cloak slip."

Slowly they lifted the motionless form, and steadily bore it away:
Inez taking the lead, and stepping cautiously. She left the Plaza
and principal streets, and turned toward a broad desolate waste,
stretching away from the town, and bare, save a few gnarled oaks that
moaned in the March wind. The moon rose when they had proceeded some
distance beyond the last house, and Inez paused suddenly, and looked
anxiously about her.

"Sacra Dio! I trust you have not lost your way! Holy Mother, preserve
us if we have gone wrong."

"I knew we must be near the place: it is under yonder tree; fear
nothing Senora, come on:" and a few more steps brought them to the
designated spot.

A shallow excavation had been made, sufficient to admit with ease the
body of a full-grown man; and on its margin they softly laid their
burden down. Every object shone in the clear moonlight, and stranger
scene never moon shone upon. A dreary waste stretched away in the
distance, and sighingly the wind swept over it. Inez knelt beside the
grave, her wan yet still beautiful features convulsed with the secret
agony of her tortured soul; the long rav