he wind which rocked that huge reptile--the gift of a disappointed
Sultan--sent the petals of ten thousand orange blossoms drifting over our
heads in a perfumed snow-storm. Past us trooped a dark-robed brotherhood,
each man with his tall candle raining wax on the grass-grown stones of the
old court.

This it was which had drawn forth Dick's reflection; but I scarcely heard
his words. I was watching for Monica; and my last chance must come soon if
it were to come at all.

Pilar and her father were not with us. They had gone into the cathedral,
where they had secured seats not far from the royal chapel, and in the
best position to hear the Miserere. Though it was early still, not quite
nine o'clock, vast crowds were gathering and it was possible, they
thought, that Carmona and his guests were already in their places. If they
were seen there, Colonel O'Donnel would send out a messenger (a man
employed in the cathedral) with a word for me.

Earlier, this person had come to the hotel, where he had been told to look
well at me that he might not fail to recognize me again. And Dick and I
had not stood on sentinel duty for fifteen minutes when he appeared,
beating through the opposing tide of the multitude as it swept towards the
cathedral.

"His worship the Colonel O'Donnel, wished their worships the two
senoritos, to know that those they wished to find were not visible in the
cathedral."

"Could they be there, and invisible?" I asked.

"The cathedral is very dimly lighted; and they might not be seen if they
were in some chapel. There are several with many people in them, and the
doors are locked."

"Is that allowed?"

"The people have given something to a verger not to let others in. I have
power of the same kind, if any senor wished me to use it."

"Here they come!" whispered Dick. "Carmona, Lady Vale-Avon, and Lady
Monica."

We stepped farther back into shadow, though such precaution was hardly
needed. It was so dim in the Court of Oranges that the crowd groped its
way over the cracked, uneven pavement. Only because they were close upon
us, and he was watching, had Dick been able to make out the faces we knew.

"Stop with us," I said to Colonel O'Donnel's messenger. "You shall have a
hundred pesetas if you will open the door of an empty chapel for me, and
lock it again when I give the word."

"But I fear there are no empty ones--" he began.

"Then make one empty. Can you do that--for a hundred pesetas?"

"