who, in cold blood, shot my poor old mother, for no crime but
that of having borne me. Have the fellow out instantly, and shoot him!"

Rollo stood a moment dumfounded, then he recovered himself and spoke.

"General Cabrera," he said, "this is a trick. I have had no
correspondence with Nogueras. I had not even heard his name. This has
been dropped into my pocket by some traitor. I hold a commission in the
service of Don Carlos, and have had no communication with his enemies."

"But in this place you gave yourselves out as Nationalists, is it not
so?" queried Cabrera.

"Certainly," answered Rollo; "we were on a secret mission, and we were
given to understand that this was a hostile village."

Cabrera took up the letter again and read aloud--

"_To the young Englishman of the Foreign Legion, pretending
service with Don Carlos._

"You are ordered to obtain any information as to the movements
of the brigand Cabrera and his men, by penetrating into their
district, and, if possible, joining their organisation. You
will report the same to me, and this pass will hold you safe
with all servants and well-wishers of the government of the
Queen-Regent.

"NOGUERAS."

The Carlist commander, whose voice had been rising as he read, shouted
rather than uttered the name of the murderer of his mother. He did not
again sit down, but strode up and down, his cavalry sword clanging and
battering against the furniture of the little room as if expressing the
angry perturbation of his mind.

"General," said Rollo, as calmly as if arguing a point in theology, "if
I had been guilty of this treachery, would I have kept a paper like that
loose in an outer pocket? Is it not evident that it has been placed
there by some enemy--probably by that archtraitor there, the miller
Fernandez?"

Luis Fernandez smiled benignly upon Rollo, but did not speak. He
believed that the poison had done its work.

Cabrera took not the slightest notice of Rollo's words, but continued to
pace the floor frowning and muttering.

More than one Carlist soldier glanced at his neighbour with a look which
said, plain as a printed proclamation, "It is all over with the
foreigners!"

At last Cabrera stopped his promenade. He folded his arms and stood
looking up at Rollo.

"The morning--I think you said. Well, I will give your friend till the
morning to be ready with the proofs of your innocence. But if not, so
soon as t