d again sharply, seeing that Ramona hesitated; and
Ramona went; across the passage-way leading to the dining-room, out into
the veranda, down the entire length of it, to the Senora's room,--the
Senora walking with a quick, agitated step, strangely unlike her usual
gait; Ramona walking far slower than was her habit, and with her eyes
bent on the ground. As they passed the dining-room door, Margarita,
standing just inside, shot at Ramona a vengeful, malignant glance.

"She would help the Senora against me in anything," thought Ramona; and
she felt a thrill of fear, such as the Senora with all her threats had
not stirred.

The Senora's windows were open. She closed them both, and drew the
curtains tight. Then she locked the door, Ramona watching her every
movement.

"Sit down in that chair," said the Senora, pointing to one near the
fireplace. A sudden nervous terror seized Ramona.

"I would rather stand, Senora," she said.

"Do as I bid you." said the Senora, in a husky tone; and Ramona obeyed.
It was a low, broad armchair, and as she sank back into it, her senses
seemed leaving her. She leaned her head against the back and closed
her eyes. The room swam. She was roused by the Senora's strong
smelling-salts held for her to breathe, and a mocking taunt from the
Senora's iciest voice: "The Senorita does not seem so over-strong as she
did a few moments back!"

Ramona tried to reason with herself; surely no ill could happen to her,
in this room, within call of the whole house. But an inexplicable terror
had got possession of her; and when the Senora, with a sneer on her
face, took hold of the Saint Catharine statue, and wheeling it half
around, brought into view a door in the wall, with a big iron key in the
keyhole, which she proceeded to turn, Ramona shook with fright. She had
read of persons who had been shut up alive in cells in the wall, and
starved to death. With dilating eyes she watched the Senora, who, all
unaware of her terror, was prolonging it and intensifying it by her
every act. First she took out the small iron box, and set it on a table.
Then, kneeling, she drew out from an inner recess in the closet a large
leather-covered box, and pulled it, grating and scraping along the
floor, till it stood in front of Ramona. All this time she spoke no
word, and the cruel expression of her countenance deepened each moment.
The fiends had possession of the Senora Moreno this morning, and no
mistake. A braver heart t