“He called for a light, please your Reverence, but—­”

“But you did not choose to obey at an hour so late!” sternly responded Father Francis; “and by such neglect may be guilty of accelerating the death of the innocent, and concealing the real murderer!  You allege that Senor Stanley returned from some military duty at sunset, and slept from then till just before eleven, so soundly that you could not rouse him even for his evening meal.  This was strange for a man with murder in his thoughts!  Again, that he called for a light, which, you neglected to bring; and Senor Stanley asserts that he missed his sword, but rushed from the house without it.  Your culpable neglect, then, prevents our discovering the truth of this assertion; yet you acknowledge he called loudly for light; this appears too unlikely to have been the case, had the prisoner quitted the house with the intention to do murder.”

“Intention at that moment he might not have had, Reverend Father,” interposed the head of the Associated Brethren, who had taken an active part in the examination.  “Were there no evidence as to premeditated desire of vengeance, premeditated insult, and long-entertained enmity, these conclusions might have foundation.  As the case stands, they weigh but little.  Where evil passions have been excited, opportunity for their indulgence is not likely to pass unused.”

“But evidence of that long-entertained enmity and premeditated vengeance we have not yet examined,” replied the Sub-Prior.  “If it only rest on the suppositions of this old couple, in one of whom it is pretty evident, prejudice is stronger than clearly defined truth, methinks that, despite this circumstantial evidence, there is still hope of the prisoner’s innocence, more especially as we have one other important fact to bring forward.  You are certain,” he continued, addressing old Pedro, “that the bell chimed eleven when Senor Stanley quitted your dwelling?” The man answered firmly in the affirmative.  “And you will swear that the Senor slept from sunset till that hour?”

“I dare not swear to it, your Reverence, for Juana and I were at a neighbor’s for part of that time; but on our return, Juana took up his supper again, and found him so exactly in the same position as we had left him, that we could not believe he had even moved.”

“Was he alone in the house during this interval?”

“No; the maid Beta was at her work in the room below Senor Stanley’s.”

“Let her be brought here.”

The order was so rapidly obeyed, that it was very evident she was close at hand; but so terribly alarmed at the presence in which she stood, as to compel the Sub-Prior to adopt the gentlest possible tone, to get any answer at all.  He merely inquired if, during the absence of her master and mistress, she had heard any movement in the prisoner’s room.  She said that she thought she had—­a quiet, stealthy step, and also a sound as if a door in the back of the house closed; but the sounds were so very indistinct, she had felt them at the time more like a dream than reality; and the commencement of the storm had so terrified her, that she did not dare move from her seat.