arrival he had been shocked at finding the tower deserted by
its inhabitants. In vain he sought for intelligence concerning them; a
mystery hung over their disappearance which he could not penetrate,
until he was thunderstruck, on accidentally reading a list of the
prisoners at the impending auto da fe, to find the name of his
venerable master among the condemned.

It was the very morning of the execution. The procession was already
on its way to the grand square. Not a moment was to be lost. The grand
inquisitor was a relation of Don Antonio, though they had never met.
His first impulse was to make himself known; to exert all his family
influence, the weight of his name, and the power of his eloquence, in
vindication of the alchymist. But the grand inquisitor was already
proceeding, in all his pomp, to the place where the fatal ceremony was
to be performed. How was he to be approached? Antonio threw himself
into the crowd, in a fever of anxiety, and was forcing his way to the
scene of horror, where he arrived just in time to rescue Inez, as has
been mentioned.

It was Don Ambrosio that fell in their contest. Being desperately
wounded, and thinking his end approaching, he had confessed to an
attending father of the inquisition, that he was the sole cause of the
alchymist's condemnation, and that the evidence on which it was
grounded was altogether false. The testimony of Don Antonio came in
corroboration of this avowal; and his relationship to the grand
inquisitor had, in all probability, its proper weight. Thus was the
poor alchymist snatched, in a manner, from the very flames; and so
great had been the sympathy awakened in his case, that for once a
populace rejoiced at being disappointed of an execution.

The residue of the story may readily be imagined, by every one versed
in this valuable kind of history. Don Antonio espoused the lovely
Inez, and took her and her father with him to Valentia. As she had
been a loving and dutiful daughter, so she proved a true and tender
wife. It was not long before Don Antonio succeeded to his father's
titles and estates, and he and his fair spouse were renowned for being
the handsomest and happiest couple in all Valentia.

As to Don Ambrosio, he partially recovered to the enjoyment of a
broken constitution and a blasted name, and hid his remorse and
disgrace in a convent; while the poor victim of his arts, who had
assisted Inez in her escape, unable to conquer the early passion