the girl and go up the Boque river to Rosa
Maria, the clearing of Don Nicolas. It is a wild region, where tapirs
and deer roam, and where hardly a man has set foot for centuries. The
people of Boque will keep our secret, and she can remain hidden there
until--"

"No, Rosendo, that will not do," replied Jose, shaking his head in
perplexity. "The girl is developing rapidly, and such a course would
result in a mental check that might spell infinite harm. She and Dona
Maria would die to live by themselves up there in that lonely region.
What about her studies? And--what would I do?"

"Then do you go too, Padre," suggested Rosendo.

"No, _amigo_, for that would cause search to be instituted by the
Bishop, and we certainly would be discovered. But, to take her
and flee the country--and the Church--how can I yet? No, it is
impossible!" He shook his head dolefully, while his thoughts flew
back to Seville and the proud mother there.

"_Bien_, Padre, let us increase our contributions to Don Wenceslas.
Let us send him from now on not less than one hundred _pesos oro_ each
month. Will not that keep him quiet, no matter what Diego says?"

"Possibly," assented Jose. "At any rate, we will try it." They still
had some three thousand _pesos_ gold left.

* * * * *

"Padre," said Rosendo, some days later, as they sat together in the
parish house, "what do you think Diego wants of the girl?"

Jose hesitated. "I think, Rosendo--" he began. But could even a human
mind touch such depths of depravity? And yet--"I think," he continued
slowly, "that Diego, having seen her, and now speculating on her
future beauty of face and form--I think he means to place her in a
convent, with the view of holding her as a ready substitute for the
woman who now lives with him--"

"_Dios_! And that is my own daughter!" cried Rosendo, springing up.

"Yes--true, Rosendo. And, if I mistake not, Diego also would like to
repay the score he has against you, for driving him from Simiti and
holding the threat of death over him these many years. He can most
readily do this by getting Carmen away from you--as he did the other
daughter, is it not so?"

Rosendo came and stood before the priest. His face was strained with
fearful anxiety. "Padre," he said in a low voice, "I shall end this
matter at once. I go to Banco to-morrow to kill Diego."

"You shall do nothing of the kind!" cried Jose, seizing his
hand. "Why--Ros