long; he soon learned, and in a startling and
unexpected way.

Clif had not noticed it, but there was another door to that cell. It was
behind him, leading to a small room in the rear.

While he stood there motionless and lost in thought waiting for the
Spaniard's return, that door was silently opened, and a figure stood
watching him.

And then suddenly it stepped out and came across the room.

The cadet heard it then, and whirled about. He took one glance.

And then he staggered back with a cry of consternation.

It was Bessie Stuart!

For one instant the two stood and stared at each other as if to make
sure that their eyes did not deceive them. And then, with a cry of
delight that came from his very soul, Clif sprang toward the girl.

Bessie Stuart looked as if she had been through some terrible ordeal,
for her face was pale; the emotion of meeting Clif almost overcame her,
and she burst into tears upon his shoulder.

Clif himself was so dazed that he hardly knew what to think. He caught
the girl in his arms to keep her from falling.

"Bessie," he cried, "how on earth did you get here?"

The cadet's brain was in a whirl at that moment. He began to see what
the Spaniard meant when he said it was for some other person's sake that
he had rescued Clif. It was for her sake!

And it must have been by some terrible sacrifice that she had saved him
from the torture.

"Bessie!" he cried. "Tell me--that officer. What----"

The girl looked up through her tears.

"S-sh!" she exclaimed. "It is all right. Wait."

And at that instant Clif heard a key turn in the door, and knew that it
was the man returning.

Clif gazed into the girl's face and he saw a look of joy upon it that
partially reassured him; then he looked up and saw that the Spanish
lieutenant had entered and was watching them.

In his quiet way he studied the faces of the two; he saw the look of
happiness on Bessie Stuart's face, and he must have known that it was
because she had met the cadet again.

Clif saw him press his lips together resolutely. The cadet was watching
him with the intensest anxiety, for he hoped in that man's actions to
read the meaning of this mystery.

But the Spaniard's handsome face showed little emotion, though his chest
heaved and fell as he stood there.

And then suddenly he stepped forward toward the two.

"I have brought it, Miss Stuart," he said, with a dignified bow.

He held out a heavy cloth cape, which the g