Part 26 (2/2)

”I've given you that, _ho your duty Ha, ha, ha!”

The laughter neither disconcerted nor vexed him It was not scornful, while the kiss had been very sweet Long-coveted, but hitherto withheld, he looked upon it as an earnest of many others to folloith a reward he would s in Mexico-- the possession of Pepita herself

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

A HOLY BROTHERHOOD

”Where the deuce am I?”

It was Florence Kearney who asked this question, interrogating hi after their retreat up theon a low pallet, or rather bench of mason work, with a palht with hie The rooht or nine feet square, pierced by a single , a lass

He was yet only half awake, and, as his words shoith but a confused sense of his whereabouts His brain was in a whirl fro sustained Everything around see his eyes tohis head from the hard pillow, he took stock of what the room contained An easy task that Only a ricketty chair, on which lay a pair of duelling pistols--one of the pairs found under the carriage cushi+ons--and his hat hanging on its elbow Not a thing reasy around the neck, fro on the uncarpeted stone floor beside his own boots, just as he had drawn thes on the night before was due to extreundy,to do with it In any case he had dropped down upon the mat of pal this strange sleeping chamber, to which the mayor-domo had conducted him

”Queer crib it is,” he continued to soliloquise, after s, ”for a bedroo slept in so small a one, except aboard shi+p, or in a prison-cell

How like the last it looks!”

It did soether There were points of difference, as a niche in the wall, with a plaster cast on a plinth, apparently the is in the ork, crosses, and other emblems of piety

”It ht, after noticing these ”Here in Mexico they often have them in odd, out-of-the-way places, I've heard Out of the way this place surely is, considering the climb we've had to reach it Monks in it, too?” he added, recalling the two ht, and how they where habited ”A strange sort they seem, with a _captain_ at their head--ive us sanctuary, as he appears to think it will, I shall be but too glad to join the holy brotherhood”

He lay a little longer, his eyes running around the rooh lireen rown upon the were rainwater had run down If a monastery, it was evidently not one in the enjoyht have been in the past

While still dreaently pushed ajar, and so held by whoever had opened it Turning his head round, Kearney saw aloose robes, with sandalled feet and shaven crown, girdle of beads, crucifix, cowl, and scapular--in short, the garb of the nia

”I have come to inquire how you have slept,that he ake ”I hope that the pure atmosphere of this, our mountain ho--will have proved conducive to your slumbers”

”Indeed, yes,” rejoined he inquired after, conscious of having slept well ”I've had a good night's rest--the best allowed , he had dropped his feet to the floor, and raised hi him face to face with the friar What caused hinition The countenance he saas a fa been so close to his oithin a few feet of it--for days past No disguise of dress, nor changed tonsure, could hinder identification of the man who had partaken of his chain in the Acordada; for he it was

”Oh! 'tis you, Don Ruperto!” exclai tone

”The saravity

At which the young Irish:--

”Well, you're the last man I should ever have supposed to be adenunciations of the Holy Brethren he had heard pass the lips of his late fellow-prisoner

”Ah! Senor Don Florencio, in this our world of Mexico we are called upon to play many parts, and make out home in many places Yesterday, you knew aol; to-day, you see me in a monastery And no common monk, but an Abbot, for know, _amijo mio_, that I am the head of this establish the part I should Youto For the first, breakfast will be ready by the tiorio!” this was a call to the mayor-domo outside, who instantly after appeared at the door ”Conduct this gentle his ablutions” Then again to Kearney: ”If I mistake not, you will find a clean shi+rt there, with soes of raiot to be rather a late hour for breakfast, and the Holy Brethren will be getting a little impatient for it But, no doubt, your appetite will proa_!”

With which salutation--the Mexican custo for only a short while--he passed out of the rooorio