man stood dazed, unresisting.

"One minute more," said Lopez. "First, I must tell you something. And
afterward, you will remember. Yes, you will remember--afterward. You
know who I am, that I command the Dragoons of the Empress.--Are you
listening? But do you know that, in a way, I am Maximilian's confidant?
Whenever he walks or rides, incognito, dressed as a ranchero, I alone go
with him, as I did during the past ten days while we stopped at Las
Palmas, three leagues from here. The very first evening there, we two
rode out, with our cloaks about us. He likes to commune with nature, and
gather curious flowers which he pastes in a book and labels with Latin
names. But this time he was interested in peons, yet as he had a
delicacy about prying into his host's business, we rode until we left
Las Palmas behind us. His Majesty would gaze on the hills and look at
the sunset, and he talked to me of a poetic calm about them which made
him long for he knew not what. And Murguia----"

Here the speaker paused abruptly, and his faded eyes shifted and
hardened.

"And Murguia, we came here, and--he met your child. He met her here, at
this chapel, where she had been to pray for her aunt. Old man, do you
hear me, the Emperor met your daughter! Then, next day, instead of going
on with his journey, he complained of a cough, and stayed at Las Palmas.
But every evening he rode here, he and I. Once I found a chance to ask
her her name, but she would only tell her given name.--There, you will
remember? Yes, you will--after you have seen her. Come, she is not far
away."

CHAPTER XXII

EQUIDAD EN LA JUSTICIA

"... and I think I shall begin to take pleasure in being at home
and minding my business. I pray God I may, for I finde a great
need thereof." --_Pepys's Diary_.

An hour later the candles were still guttering in the court room, and
here Colonel Lopez assembled his minions of justice a second time. In
his manner now there was nothing of the uncertainty, nor the feigning of
penetration, which had before marked his handling of the trials. He
pounded the box with his sword.

"In the light of new evidence," he announced shortly, "the two cases of
a while ago are reopened."

Din Driscoll strolled in. "I've come for my belt and pistols. Dupin took
them," he said.

Lopez signed to the Dragoons to close round him. Then he gave vent. Did
the Senor Gringo laugh so much at Mexican justice, since instead of
escaping whil