thousand times troubled the conscience--who, in the silence of the night
in the midst of the woods, has often fancied he could hear that cry of
anguish, which at the time he mistook for the wailing of the breeze
against the cliffs of Elanchovi. It was the death scream of your poor
mother. Ah! Don Fabian de Mediana," continued the speaker, in reply to
the gesture of horror made by the young man, "Ah! that man's conscience
has reproached him in stronger terms than you could use; and at this
hour he is ready to spill the last drop of his blood for you."

The impetuous passions of Fabian, for a moment softened by thoughts of
Rosarita, were again inflamed to their utmost. He had already sworn to
avenge the death of Arellanos, and here was anew object of vengeance,
the murderer of his own mother! The bland image of Rosarita at once
disappeared, paling away as the firelight eclipsed by the brighter
gleams of the rising sun.

"My mother's assassin!" cried he, his eyes flashing with furious
indignation. "And you know him?"

"You also--you have eaten with him at the same table--under the same
roof--that which you have just now quitted!"

Pepe without further interrogation went on to recount what he knew of
the events of Elanchovi. He told Fabian who he was--that Don Estevan
was no other than his uncle, Antonio de Mediana--of the marriage of his
mother with Don Juan his father--of the consequent chagrin of the
younger brother--of his infamous design, and the manner it had been
carried into execution. How Don Antonio, returning from the wars in
Mexico, with his band of piratical adventurers, had landed in a boat
upon the beach at Ensenada--how he had entered the chateau, and with the
help of his two subordinate villains had abstracted the Countess and her
infant--himself Fabian--how the assassination of the mother had been
committed in the boat, and the child only spared in the belief that the
murderer's steel was not necessary--in the belief that the waves and the
cold atmosphere of a November night would complete the deed of death.

Nor did Pepe conceal his own conduct connected with this affair. He
disclosed all to his half-frantic listener--the after actions of Don
Antonio with regard to himself--his imprisonment and subsequent
banishment to the fisheries of Ceuta--his escape at a later period to
the prairies of America, and his meeting with Bois-Rose--with whom,
however, no recognition had ever been established a