g Esteban there."

_Judge_: "You mean Don Bartolome Ramonez de, Alavia?" (She nodded.)
"Answer me."

_Manuela_: "Yes, yes."

_Judge_: "You are impatient because your evil deeds are coming to
light. I am not surprised; but you must command yourself. There is
more to come." (Manvers, who was furious, asked his advocate whether
something could not be done. Directly her fear of Esteban was touched
upon, he said, the Judge changed his tactics. The advocate smiled.
"Be patient, sir," he said. "The Judge has been instructed
beforehand." "You mean," said Manvers, "that he has been bribed?" "I
did not say so," the advocate replied.)

The Judge returned to Palencia. "What other reasons had you?" was his
next question, but Manuela was clever enough to see where her strength
lay. "My fear of Esteban swallowed all other reasons." She saved
herself, and with unconcealed chagrin the Judge went on towards the
real point.

_Judge_: "The Englishman then made you another proposal?"

_Manuela_: "Yes, sir. He proposed to take me to a convent."

_Judge_: "You refused that?"

_Manuela_: "No, sir. I should have been glad to go to a convent."

_Judge_: "You, however, accepted his third proposal, namely, that you
should be under his protection?"

_Manuela_: "I was thankful for his protection when I saw Esteban
coming."

_Judge_: "I have no doubt of that. You had reason to fear Don
Bartolome's resentment?"

_Manuela_: "I knew that Esteban intended to murder me."

_Judge_: "Don Bartolome overtook you. You were riding before the
Englishman on his horse?"

_Manuela_: "Yes. I could not walk. I was ill."

_Judge_: "Don Bartolome remained with you until the Englishman ran
away?"

_Manuela_: "He did not run away. Why should he? He went away on his
own affairs."

_Judge_ (after looking at his papers): "I see. The Englishman went
away after the pair of you had killed Don Bartolome?"

_Manuela_: "That is not true. He went away to bathe, and then I killed
Esteban with his own knife. I killed him because he told me that he
intended to murder me, and the English gentleman who had been kind to
me. I confess it--I confessed it to the _alguazils_ and the
_carcelero_. You may twist what I say as you will, to please your
friends, but the truth is in what I say."

_Judge_: "Silence! It is for you to answer the questions which I put
to you. You forget yourself, Manuela. But I will take your confession
as true fo