d without with sheet-iron, while
all the windows were protected not only by shutters but by solid
stanchions of iron sunk in the wall.

On the whole Rollo was satisfied, and next questioned the servants
concerning the state of the town and whether any assistance was to be
hoped for from that quarter. In this, however, he was disappointed. It
appeared that the whole municipality of San Ildefonso was so utterly
plague-stricken that scarce an able-bodied man remained, or so much as a
halfling boy capable of shouldering a musket. Only the women stood still
in the breach, true nursing mothers, not like her of Ramah, refusing to
be comforted, but continuing rather to tend the sick and dying till they
themselves also died--aye, even shrouding the dead and laying out the
corpses. A faithful brother or two of the Hermitage abode to carry the
last Sacraments of the Church through the deserted and grass-grown
streets, though there were few or none now to fall on their knees at the
passage of _Su Majestad_, or to uncover the head at the melancholy
tolling of the funeral bell.

With characteristic swiftness of decision Rollo made up his mind that
the best plan for the defence of the palace would be to place his scanty
forces along the various jutting balconies of the second floor,
carefully darkening all the rooms in their rear, so that, till the
moment of the attack itself, the assailants would have no idea that they
were expected. It was his idea that the small doors on the garden side
of the house, which led right and left to the servants' quarters, would
be attacked first. He was the more assured of this because the Sergeant
had recognised, in the bivouac of the gipsies, a man who had formerly
been one of the royal grooms both at La Granja and at Aranjuez. He would
be sure to be familiar, therefore, with that part of the interior of the
palace. Besides, being situated upon the side most completely removed
from the town, the assailants would have the less fear of interruption.

While Rollo was thus cogitating, Concha came softly to his side,
appearing out of the gloom with a suddenness that startled the young
man.

"I have pulled up the ladder by which we ascended and laid it across the
balcony," she said. "Was that right?"

"You--alone?" cried Rollo in astonishment.

She nodded brightly.

"Certainly," she answered; "women are not all so great weaklings as you
think them--nor yet such fools!"

"Indeed, you have more sen