s my father done, Fray Ignatius? Why have they arrested him?"

The priest turned to Antonia with a cold face. He did not like her. He
felt that she did not believe in him.

"Senorita, he has committed a treason. A good citizen obeys the law;
Senor Worth has defied it."

"Pardon, father, I cannot believe it."

"A great forbearance has been shown him, but the end of mercy comes.
As he persisted in wearing arms, he has been taken to the Alamo and
disarmed."

"It is a great shame! An infamous shame and wrong!" cried Antonia. "What
right has any one to take my father's arms? No more than they have to
take his purse or his coat."

"General Santa Anna--"

"General Santa Anna is a tyrant and a thief. I care not who says
different."

"Antonia! Shameless one!"

"Mother, do not strike me." Then she took her mother's hands in her own,
and led her to a couch, caressing her as she spoke--

"Don't believe any one--ANY ONE, mother, who says wrong of my father.
You know that he is the best of men. Rachela! Come here instantly. The
rosary is not the thing, now. You ought to be attending to the Senora.
Get her some valerian and some coffee, and come and remove her clothing.
Fray Ignatius, we will beg you to leave us to-night to ourselves."

"Your mother's sin, in marrying a heretic, has now found her out. It is
my duty to make her see her fault."

"My mother had a dispensation from one greater than you."

"Oh, father, pray for me! I accuse myself! I accuse myself! Oh, wretched
woman! Oh, cruel husband!"

"Mother, you have been a very happy woman. You have had the best husband
in the world. Do not reproach my father for the sins of others. Do not
desert him when he is in the power of a human tiger. My God, mother! let
us think of something to be done for his help! I will see the Navarros,
the Garcias, Judge Valdez; I will go to the Plaza and call on the
thousands he has cured and helped to set him free."

"You will make of yourself something not to be spoken of. This is the
judgment of God, my daughter."

"It is the judgment of a wicked man, Fray Ignatius. My mother is not now
able to listen to you. Isabel, come here and comfort her." Isabel put
her cheek to her mother's; she murmured caressing words; she kissed her
face, and coiled up her straggling hair, and with childlike trust amid
all, solicited Holy Mary to console them.

Fray Ignatius watched her with a cold scrutiny. He was saying to
himself, "It is the fruit