e poor woman. Not a glance did
he bestow on either the advocate or Julianillo. They had good hopes
that the inquisitors had been satisfied; or, thought Herezuelo, "Can the
doctor have become a traitor; and is he allowed by the inquisitors to go
free that he may the more readily entrap others into their toils?" It
was too probable that such an idea was correct; but Herezuelo quickly
banished it as ungenerous from his mind, and hurried back to Dona
Mercia's house with the satisfactory information that Doctor Zafra was
free. Julianillo arrived soon after, and expressing his belief that all
were safe, stated that he intended to re-commence his perilous
expedition to Germany. Still some hours must elapse before the truth
could be ascertained for a certainty, as it would not be safe to visit
Doctor Zafra's house till dark. Much of the interval was spent in
reading the Scriptures and in prayer. At length the truth was known.
The sagacious Zafra, on being summoned, went boldly to the inquisitors,
with a fearless, self-satisfied countenance. He laughed when the names
of those denounced by the widow were read over to him.

"She has been mad for many a day, and a strong proof of her madness is
that she should have picked out persons the most unlikely in Spain to be
guilty of such heresies," he replied. "Devout and exemplary I know they
are; and those among them with whom I am acquainted are especially
lovers of the true faith, and are persons in whom I have unbounded
confidence." The inquisitors, on hearing this, were so fully convinced
that the poor widow's representations had no other foundation than the
visionary workings of a disordered brain, that they allowed the learned
doctor to depart with her under his charge. Thus was the danger to the
infant Church at Seville for the time mercifully removed, and while it
gained strength to endure the coming persecutions, the number of
Christ's true disciples was much increased.

CHAPTER FOUR.

SIGNS OF DANGER.

Two years had passed away. Leonor de Cisneros had become the wife of
Antonio Herezuelo, the advocate; they had settled at Toro, but
occasionally made visits to Seville and to Valladolid, where they
enjoyed the society of other Protestants--many of them illustrious, both
by birth and talents, among the nobles of Spain.

The year 1558, fearfully memorable in Spain, at length commenced.
Philip was about to return to his paternal dominions. Charles the Fifth
w