; and some of these loitered in front of the house after its door
had closed behind Baltasar and his escort. The entrance of the prisoner
did not pass unnoticed by Basilio Lopez, who was at his favourite post
at the shop-door. His placid physiognomy testified no surprise at the
appearance of such unusual visitors; and no one, uninterested in
observing him, would have noticed that, as Baltasar passed him, the
cloth-merchant managed to catch his eye, and made a very slight, almost
an imperceptible sign. It was detected by Baltasar, and served to
complete his perplexity, which had already been raised to a high pitch
by the different circumstances that had occurred during his brief
captivity. He had first been puzzled by Herrera's conduct at Puente de
la Reyna; the importance attached by the Christino officer to the
possession and identification of his pistols was unaccountable to him,
never dreaming of its real motive. Then he could not understand why he
was placed in a separate prison, and treated more as a criminal than as
a prisoner of war, instead of sharing the captivity and usage of his
brother officers. And now, to his further bewilderment, he was conducted
to a dwelling-house, before entering which, a man, entirely unknown to
him, made him one of the slight but significant signs by which the
adherents of Don Carlos were wont to recognise each other. He had not
yet recovered from this last surprise, when he was ushered into a room
where three persons were assembled. One of these was an aide-de-camp of
Cordova, Herrera was another, and in the third, to his unutterable
astonishment and consternation, Baltasar recognized Count Villabuena.

There was a moment's silence, during which the cousins gazed at each
other; the Count sternly and reproachfully, Baltasar with dilated
eyeballs and all the symptoms of one who mistrusts the evidence of his
senses. But Baltasar was too old an offender, too hardened in crime and
obdurate in character, to be long accessible to emotion of any kind. His
intense selfishness caused his own interests and safety to be ever
uppermost in his thoughts, and the first momentary shock over, he
regained his presence of mind, and was ready to act his part. Affecting
extreme delight, he advanced with extended hand towards the Count.

"Dare I believe my eyes?" he exclaimed. "A joyful surprise, indeed,
cousin."

"Silence, sir!" sternly interrupted the Count. "Dissimulation will not
serve you. You are