’’Patience, my son, patience!  I am very late—­very late—­and I must not be detained.  Wait a little—­and after the sports of the day are over, I will return.’

‘’But, padre, I shall be dead!’

‘’Well, then, be quick!’

’’I have only two sins on my conscience:  I have not attended mass for three weeks.’

‘’That is sad! very sad!  Well, what next?’

‘’Three days ago I stabbed an Inglez—­a heretic.’

‘’Well, my dear son, your sins are venial sins; I absolve you.’

‘’Pepito, how did that dagger come into your hands?’ I exclaimed, for I was astonished to see in his belt the dagger I had lost on the night when Adele took refuge in my room.

‘’From my dear—­Adele.’

‘’And the Inglez—­the heretic you stabbed—­who was he?’

’’Her husband—­she wished it—­promised to be mine—­and I obeyed.  But, stand back—­I want air—­air.’

’I turned away my head, sickened at the fearful revelation.  When I again looked, my eyes fell on a corpse.  I snatched the dagger, which was still wet with Pedro’s blood, from his belt, and hurried almost frantic to the Hotel de las Diligencias.  Mrs. Percival had been waiting for me about two hours.

’The violent emotions which raged within me must have been portrayed on my countenance, for on my entering the apartment, she started back in dismay.

‘’Mrs. Percival,’ said I, striving to master the repulsive feeling which the mere sight of her excited, ’Pepito has, within the past hour, been murdered.’

‘’Murdered!’ she repeated.  ‘And the secret—­’

’’Is dead—­for you—­forever!  Madame, that infernal mine has for years been driving you to the blackest crime!  It is time that the bait fell from the devil’s hook.’

‘’What do you mean by this altered tone?’

’’I mean, madame, that, thanks to Heaven, your crimes have been revealed to me.  Shall I enumerate the list of your victims—­General Ramiro, Arthur Livermore, Edward Percival, your husband, and last of all, Pepito?  Your path, since you have sought this mine, is marked at every step by treachery and crime.  The boldest heart must shudder to look at the ghastly procession led on by the General you poisoned.’

’’’Tis false!  God help me, ‘tis false!’

’’False—­is it false—­that three days since your husband was murdered at your instigation, by Pepito?  Stay—­hear me!  Look at this dagger! did you not steal it from my room and give it to Pepito to perpetrate the crime?  Madame, pause, ere you dare to swear it is false.’

’She trembled, and falling on her knees, exclaimed: 

‘’My God! my God! forgive me!’

’’It is not, madame, for erring man to limit the infinite mercy of Heaven; but for such crimes as yours there must be a fearful retribution.  Farewell; may you go and sin no more.’

’I left the room, but in a few moments heard a piercing shriek; and rushing back, found the wretched woman extended on the floor in the agonies of death.  She had picked up the dagger which I had thrown away, and stabbed herself to the heart.