nd on his weapon, an argument which completely set at rest the valet's
doubts, and convinced him of the necessity of a speedy retreat.

Theodora perceiving how easily Bermudo had succeeded in convincing
Roque, and knowing the obsequious manner in which the valet acted when
such sort of conviction was forced upon him, deeply felt the danger of
her situation, if abandoned by the only being who might interest himself
in her fate.

"Oh! Roque, do not leave me," she pathetically exclaimed; "stay--I
cannot remain alone with this dark, this terrible man."

Roque cast a melancholy look on his mistress; her piteous appeal went to
his heart, but a terrible glance from the renegade seemed to make still
stronger impression, for he quickly resumed his retrograde motion.

"He must be gone," said Bermudo resolutely, waving his hand in a most
expressive manner, which considerably tended to expedite the valet's
exit.

He retired, therefore, and Theodora no sooner found herself deprived of
this last frail protection, than with an assumption of fierce dignity:--

"Renegade!" she cried, "what means this intrusion? Were then all thy
former marks of regard but the insidious means to cover the real
intentions of a miscreant heart? Away!--begone!--I will alarm the
place,--yes, I will call on the protection of Caneri himself, for odious
as he is to my eyes, I can never look upon him with the same degree of
abhorrence and contempt as I do on a renegade to his faith, a traitor to
his country, and the vile minister to a despot's pleasures."

Bermudo heard these bold and severe rebukes without attempting an
interruption. Calm and unmoved he suffered the first ebullition of
resentment to evaporate, and for some time deigned to make no other
reply than a bitter smile of disdain.

At length he broke that dismal pause, and in a slow and deep toned
voice:--

"Woman," he said, "thy taunts I will not resent, for partly they are
just, and the rest I excuse in consideration of thy forlorn state, and
the many sufferings thou hast undergone."

"Oh!" cried Theodora, with a sad smile, "It well becomes you to condole
for misfortunes to which you have so largely contributed;--approach me
not--begone--I cannot trust a traitor; there is guile and malice in the
very proffer of thy kindness;--hence,--or----"

"Hush, lady," interposed the renegade, with indignant pride, "you surely
mistake my character. Threats and fears are strangers to this heart.
Nay,