been spared were read the Grand Inquisitor put on his
priestly robes, and followed by several others, took off from them the
ban of excommunication (which they were supposed to have fallen under),
by throwing holy water on them with a small broom.

As soon as this portion of the ceremony was over, those who were
condemned to suffer, and the effigies of those who had escaped by death,
were brought up one by one, and their sentences read; the winding up of
the condemnation of all was in the same words, "that the Holy
Inquisition found it impossible, on account of the hardness of their
hearts and the magnitude of their crimes, to pardon them. With great
concern it handed them over to secular justice to undergo the penalty of
the laws; exhorting the authorities at the same time to show clemency
and mercy towards the unhappy wretches, and if they must suffer death,
that at all events it might be without the _spilling of blood_." What
mockery was this apparent intercession not to shied blood, when, to
comply with their request, they substituted the torment and agony of the
stake!

Amine was the last who was led forward to the pulpit, which was fixed
against one of the massive columns of the centre aisle, close to the
throne occupied by the Grand inquisitor. "You, Amine Vanderdecken,"
cried the public accuser. At this moment an unusual bustle was heard in
the crowd under the pulpit, there was struggling and expostulation, and
the officers raised their wands for silence and decorum--but it
continued.

"You, Amine Vanderdecken, being accused--"

Another violent struggle; and from the crowd darted a young man, who
rushed to where Amine was standing, and caught her in his arms.

"Philip! Philip!" screamed Amine falling on his bosom; as he caught
her, the cap of flames fell off her head and rolled along the marble
pavement. "My Amine--my wife--my adored one--is it thus we meet? My
lord, she is innocent. Stand off, men," continued he to the officers of
the Inquisition, who would have torn them asunder: "stand off, or your
lives shall answer for it."

This threat to the officers, and the defiance of all rules, were not to
be borne; the whole cathedral was in a state of commotion, and the
solemnity of the ceremony was about to be compromised. The Viceroy and
his followers had risen from their chairs to observe what was passing,
and the crowd was pressing on, when the Grand Inquisitor gave his
directions, and other offi