us.

Abruptly the friar nodded again; and as abruptly checked, recollecting
himself.

"Don Rodrigo?" he echoed, and asked: "Who mentioned Don Rodrigo?"

But it was too late. His assenting nod had betrayed the truth, had
confirmed her worst fear. She swayed a little; the room swam round
her, she felt as she would swoon. Then blind indignation against that
forsworn betrayer surged to revive her. If it was through her weakness
and undutifulness that her father had been destroyed, through her
strength should he be avenged, though in doing so she pulled down and
destroyed herself.

"And he confessed to his own sin?" she was repeating slowly, ever on
that musing, incredulous note. "He dared confess himself a Judaizer?"

"A Judaizer!" Sheer horror now overspread the friar's grim countenance.
"A Judaizer! Don Rodrigo? Oh, impossible!"

"But I thought you said he had confessed."

"Why, yes, but... but not to that." Her pale lips smiled, sadly
contemptuous.

"I see. He set limits of prudence upon his confession. He left out
his Judatting practices. He did not tell you, for instance, that this
deletion was an act of revenge against me who refused to marry him,
having discovered his unfaith, and fearing its consequences in this
world and the next."

Ojeda stared at her in sheer, incredulous amazement.

And then Torquemada spoke: "Do you say that Don Rodrigo de Cardona is a
Judaizer? Oh, it is unbelievable."

"Yet I could give you evidence that should convince you."

"Then so you shall. It is your sacred duty, lest you become an abettor
of heresy, and yourself liable to the extreme penalty."

It would be a half-hour later, perhaps, when she quitted the Convent
of St. Paul to return home, with Hell in her heart, knowing in life no
purpose but that of avenging the parent her folly had destroyed. As she
was being carried past the Alcazar, she espied across the open space
a tall, slim figure in black, in whom she recognized her lover, and
straightway she sent the page who paced beside her litter to call him to
her side. The summons surprised him after what had passed between them;
moreover, considering her father's present condition, he was reluctant
to be seen in attendance upon the beautiful, wealthy Isabella de Susan.
Nevertheless, urged on by curiosity, he went.

Her greeting increased his surprise.

"I am in deep distress, Rodrigo, as you may judge," she told him sadly.
"You will have heard what has befallen my f