r hill called Calvary, still shone like two beacon-lights,
touched by the oblique rays of the setting sun.

Nature exhaled a poetic melancholy, and all things seemed to intone a
hymn to the Creator, with that silent music heard only by the spirit.
The low sound of the bells, softened and almost lost in the distance,
hardly disturbed the repose of the earth, and invited to prayer, without
distracting the senses by their noise. Don Luis uncovered his head,
knelt down at the foot of the cross, the pedestal of which had served
him as a seat, and repeated with profound devotion the _Angelus Domini_.

The shades of evening were gathering fast; but when Night unfolds her
mantle, and spreads it over those favored regions, she delights to adorn
it with the most luminous stars, and with a still brighter moon. The
vault of heaven did not exchange its cerulean hue for the blackness of
night; it still retained it, though it had assumed a deeper shade. The
atmosphere was so clear and pure that myriads of stars could be descried
shining far into the limitless depths of space. The moon silvered the
tops of the trees, and touched with its splendor the waters of the
brooks that gleamed, luminous and transparent, with colors as changeful
and iridescent as the opal. In the leafy groves the nightingales were
singing. Herbs and flowers shed a rich perfume. Countless multitudes of
glow-worms shone like diamonds or carbuncles among the grass and wild
flowers along the banks of the brooks. In this region the winged
glow-worm is not found, but another and smaller species abounds, and
sheds a most brilliant light. Fruit-trees still in blossom, acacias and
roses without number, perfumed the air with their rich fragrance.

Don Luis felt himself swayed, seduced, vanquished, by this
voluptuousness of nature, and began to doubt himself. It was necessary,
however, to fulfill his promise and keep his appointment.

Deviating often from the straight path, hesitating at times whether he
should not rather push forward to the source of the river, where, at the
foot of a mountain and in the midst of the most enchanting surroundings,
the crystal torrent that waters the neighboring gardens and orchards
bursts from the living rock, he turned back, with slow and lingering
step, in the direction of the village.

In proportion as he approached the village, the terror inspired by the
thought of what he was about to do increased. He plunged into the
thickest of t