nt interview, that even those most prejudiced in his favor, on
account of his extreme sanctity, found themselves doubting his honor;
and those who had involuntarily been prejudiced against him, by the
indefinable something pervading his countenance and voice, doubly
rejoiced that their unspoken antipathy had some foundation. In modern
courts of justice, to refuse the validity of evidence merely because
the manner of obtaining it was supposed dishonorable, would be
pronounced the acme of folly and romance. In the age of which we
write, and in Spain especially, the sense of honor was so exquisitely
refined, that the King's rebuke, and determination not to allow the
validity of Don Luis's evidence, unless confirmed by an honorable
witness, excited no surprise whatever; every noble, nay, every one of
the Associated Brethren, there present, would have said the same; and
the eager wonder, as to the person of the witness on whom so much
stress was laid, became absolutely intense. The prisoner was very
evidently agitated; his cheek flushed and paled in rapid alternation,
and a suppressed but painful exclamation escaped from him as Don Felix
re-entered, leading with him a female form; but the faint sound was
unheard, save by the King and the Sub-Prior, who had been conversing
apart during d'Estaban's absence--lost in the irrepressible burst of
wonder and sympathy, which broke from all within the hall, as in the
new witness, despite the change of garb, and look, from the dazzling
beauty of health and peace, to the attenuated form of anxiety and
sorrow, they recognized at once the widow of the murdered, Donna
Marie. Nor was this universal sympathy lessened, when, on partially
removing her veil, to permit a clear view of the scene around her, her
sweet face was disclosed to all--profoundly, almost unnaturally, calm,
indeed--but the cheek and lips were perfectly colorless; the ashy
whiteness of the former rendered them more striking from the long
black lash resting upon it, unwetted by a single tear: and from the
peculiarly dark eye appearing the larger, from the attenuation of the
other features. One steady and inquiring glance she was seen to fix
upon the prisoner, and then she bent in homage to the Sovereign; and
emotion, if there were any, passed unseen.

"Sit, lady," said the King, with ready courtesy, touched more than he
could have imagined possible, by the change fourteen short days had
wrought. "We would feign render this c