him, chasing all hope. Who
would miss him, the humble and friendless student; who inquire where or
how he had met his fate? Far greater than he, the wealthy, the titled,
the powerful, had met the fate he anticipated, at hangman's hands, in
the dark and silent recesses of Spanish dungeons. To the long list of
illustrious victims, he, an insignificant one, would be added unnoticed.
And the remembrance of those who had preceded him, ennobling an
ignominious death, gave Federico courage. "Yes!" he exclaimed aloud. "I
will die, as so many great and good men have died before me! Would that
I had done service to my poor oppressed country, something to deserve
the tyrant's hate! But for thee, Rosaura, will I gladly perish, and to
thee only shall my last sigh be given."

His words yet echoed in the dungeon, when he heard steps at the door,
and its fastenings again withdrawn. This time, he doubted not it was his
death-warrant and the executioner. Nerving himself to endure the worst,
he gazed sternly and steadily at his visitors.

"That is he," said the turnkey, to a tall, sullen-looking man.

"Take off his chains," was the answer; "and you, senor, follow me."

"Quick with your work," cried Federico. "Call your aids. I am prepared."

"Silence and follow!" harshly replied the stranger. "Lucky for you if
you are prepared for all."

Without the dungeon stood a third man, muffled in a short mantle.
Federico shuddered. "Another of the hangman brood!" he murmured. "Lead
on, I fear thee not!" The man followed without a word. After traversing
several corridors, they ascended a lofty staircase. Behind each door
Federico fancied a torture chamber or a garrote, but none of them
revealed what he expected. At last his conductor paused.

"Are you ready," he said, "to appear before your Supreme Judge?"

"I am ready," Federico solemnly replied.

"Then enter here."

A door opened, the student set foot across the threshold, and uttered a
cry of surprise. Instead of the garrote, instead of racks and torturers,
he beheld a gorgeous saloon, brilliantly lighted up with a profusion of
wax tapers. Five or six men of distinguished mien and elegant
appearance, with stars and orders upon their breasts, were grouped round
a large carved chair, and looked curiously and expectantly at Federico.
But he scarcely observed them. Even on a lady of great beauty and
majestic aspect, who sat in the chair, wrapped in a costly mantle of
embroidered velvet, hi