Part 49 (1/2)
”Eat and drink,” he repeated
She did his biddingand frightened eyes
”Now,” she said, ”tell er Where are Francisco and Otter?”
”Alas! Juanna, they are dead,” he answered sole her hand ”Francisco dead! Why then are we still live?”
”Have courage and listen, Juanna After you went to sleep in the palace, Soa came to us with a plan which we accepted”
”What was the plan?” she asked hoarsely
Twice he strove to tell her and twice he failed--the words would not come
”Go on Why do you torment me?”
”It was this, Juanna: that Francisco should be dressed in the robe of Aca, and offered up with Otter in your place, while you were hidden away”
”Has it been done?” she whispered
”I believe so,” Leonard replied, bowing his head to his breast ”We are prisoners in a secret cell beneath the feet of the statue There has been great noise and confusion without, and now for so up and stood over hi eyes
”How dared you do this?” she said ”Who gave you leave to do it? I thought that you were a man, now I see that you are a coward”
”Juanna,” said Leonard, ”it is useless for you to talk like this
Whatever was done was done for your sake, not for that of anybody else”
”Oh, yes, you say so, but I believe that you ht save your own life I have done with you I will never speak to you again”
”You can please yourself about that,” answered Leonard, who by noas thoroughly enraged, ”but I a to speak to you Look here, you have said words to ed upon you But as you are a woman I can only answer them, and then wash my hands of you As you ht ladly have taken Francisco's place But it was impossible, for had I attempted to dress myself up in the robe of Aca, I should instantly have been discovered, and _you_ would have paid the price of s were arranged as I have told you I only consented to your being brought here on the condition that I was allowed to accompany you for your protection Noish that I had left it alone and gone with Francisco, then perhaps I should have found peace instead of bitter words and reproaches However, do not be afraid, for I think it probable that I shall soon follow him I know that you were very fond of this n, that you had succeeded in reat deal too fond of you for his peace of mind; therefore I make excuses for your conduct, which, with all such deductions, still remains perfectly intolerable”
He paused and looked at her as she sat on the edge of the couch, biting her lip and glancing towards hiain with a curious expression on her beautiful face, in which grief, pride, and anger all had their share Yet at thatnot of Francisco and his sacrifice, but of the man before her whom she had never loved so well as nohen he spoke to her thus bitterly, paying her back in her own coin
”I cannot pretend toand violence,” she said, ”therefore I will give up arguht ave nobody permission to save it at the cost of another person's”
”What is done, is done,” answered Leonard er had burnt out ”Another time I will not interfere without your express wish
By the way, ive you these,” and he handed her the rosary and the notebook; ”he has written so for you to read on the last sheet of the journal, and he bade me say that, should you live to escape, he hoped that you ear these in memory of him,”
and he touched the beads, ”and also that you would not forget hi it to the light, opened it at hazard The first thing that she saas her own na many other matters, a record of the priest's unhappy infatuation fro, and also of his pious efforts to overcoes rapidly she ca It ran as follows:
”Senora, of the circumstances under which I write these words you will learn in due course The pages of this journal, should you deign to study them, will reveal to you my shameful weakness But if I am a priest I am also a man--who soon shall be neither, but, as I hope, an i those desires of the spirit that find expression through the flesh, has sinned and loved you
Forgive h entleman who has won your heart and who himself worshi+ps you as you deserve May you be protected froers that now surround you, as I think you will, andof Heaven be with you and about you for th you co! And when from time to time you think of me, may you in your heart couple my name with certain holy words: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends' Senora, pardonand noble-hearted adieu with an ever-groonder, and when she had finished it, put down the book crying aloud,