as in his retirement in the convent of Saint Juste. The
Inquisitor-general, Valdes, became more than ever certain that heresy
was extending. Herezuelo and Dona Leonor were at Valladolid. They were
at their lodgings in that city when a certain Juan Garcia, a goldsmith,
was announced. He was well-known there as a sincere Protestant. It was
his office to summon the brethren to meet together for prayer and
sermon. The advocate, who knew him to be a true man, welcomed him
cordially, and promised to attend the meeting. It was to be held at the
house once occupied by Dona Leonor de Vibero, the mother of Doctor
Cazalla. She herself had been dead for some few years, as were several
of her children; but her house had been continued to be used, as it now
was, as a meeting place for Protestants. Juan Garcia had a good deal of
information to communicate with regard to the progress made by
Protestant principles. He was very sanguine as to the success of the
cause; and as the members of the Church had so long evaded the lynx eye
of the inquisitors, he had every reason to hope that they would continue
to do so. In his rounds he encountered Julian Hernandez, the
persevering Bible importer. A warm greeting passed between the two
friends. Julianillo was on the point of starting on another expedition,
and could not attend the meeting that night. His heart would be with
his co-religionists, and his prayers would ascend with theirs as he
followed his mules over the sierra.

"The time may come, ere long, when we may worship together in public,
and the books which I now bring in small numbers with difficulty and
danger, may arrive in shiploads and be sold openly," he added, as he
shook his friend's hand.

The goldsmith shook his head.

"That time is, I fear, a long way off," he answered; "yet it behoves us,
nevertheless, to pray for it."

Juan Garcia, having performed his duties, returned to his home. He was
not happy there. His wife, Maria Vallanegra, did not entertain his
opinions. Now, it could have mattered very little what Maria thought on
the subject, had she not gone to confession, where, not content with
confessing her own sins, she took upon herself, at the instigation of
the priest, to confess her husband's also. What the priest said to her
it is not necessary to repeat. She had had the same sort of things said
before, and had not been shocked. He now, however, before he allowed
her to depart, brought the enor