rstand me. To her I will go."

The door of her room was at hand; she stepped swiftly to it, and putting
her daughters before her, passed in and turned the key.

The movement took the priest by surprise, and yet he was secretly
satisfied with it. He had permitted himself to act with an imprudence
most unusual. He had allowed the Senora to find out her own moral
strength, and made a situation for her in which she had acted not only
without his support, but against his authority.

"And yet," he muttered, "so much depends upon my persuading her into
the convent; however, nothing now is to be done to-day, except to see
Rachela. Saint Joseph! if these American heretics were only in my power!
What a long joy I would make of them! I would cut a throat--just one
throat--every day of my life."

The hatred which could contemplate a vengeance so long drawn out was on
his dark face; yet, it is but justice to say, that he sincerely believed
it to be a holy hatred. The foes of the church, he regarded as the foes
of God; and his anger as a just zeal for the honor of the Lord of Hosts.
Beside which, it included a far more tangible cause.

The accumulated treasures of the Missions; their gold and gems, their
costly vestments and holy vessels, had been removed to the convent for
safety. "These infidels of Americans give to women the honor they should
give to God and Holy Church," he said to his brethren. "They will not
suffer the Sisters to be molested; and our wealth will be safe wherever
they are."

But this wealth was really so immense, that he believed it might be
well to secure it still further, and knowing the position Dr. Worth held
among his countrymen, he resolved to induce his wife and daughters
to seek refuge within the convent. They were, in fact, to be held as
hostages, for the protection of the property of the Church.

That he should fail in his plan was intolerable to him. He had been
so confident of success. He imagined the smile on the face of Fray
Sarapiam, and the warning against self-confidence he would receive from
his superior; and he vowed by Saint Joseph that he would not suffer
himself to be so mortified by three women.

Had he seen the Senora after the first excitement of her rebellion was
over, he would have been satisfied of the validity of his authority,
at least as regarded her. She flung herself at the foot of her altar,
weeping and beating her breast in a passion of self-accusation and
contrition.