repare
to stand a trial for your life."

"For his life!" exclaimed Theodora with horror; and she fixed her
imploring eyes on the queen.

Gomez Arias heard the decision of his sovereign with more indignation
than fear, and in the bitterness of his soul, he said, turning to his
adherents--

"My friends, be zealous to serve your country, for you perceive the
recompense and encouragement which await you in a day of triumph."

"Don Lope," cried the queen with warmth, "charge not to your country
what has been the effect of your unrestrained passions and imprudence;
nor carry your insolence so far as to imagine and insinuate that I can
wantonly sport with the life of the meanest of my subjects, much less
with yours. You shall be judged by your peers, who will not neglect any
extenuation in your favor, and it shall be only on irresistible evidence
that the decree of justice shall be pronounced."

She then made a signal for the assembly to disperse, and every one
retired in deep consternation. A deadly silence prevailed as they slowly
left the hall, and to the joyful sounds of popular feeling which had
lately been heard, now succeeded the murmurs of grief and astonishment.

As it was feared that the friends of Gomez Arias might be tempted to
some rash act, proper precautions were taken, that the public
tranquillity should not be disturbed. Mohabed and the other prisoners
were confined in dungeons, and Monteblanco and his wretched daughter, by
the desire of the queen, remained at the palace until the fate of Gomez
Arias should be decided.

CHAPTER X.

A do el favor antiguo? a do la gloria
De mi pasado tiempo y venturoso?
A do tantos despojos y vitoria!

_Herrera._

I am merrier to die, than thou art to live.

_Shakespeare._

The fatal day of the trial arrived; the evidence was heard, the facts
fully substantiated. Gomez Arias convicted of treason and condemned to
lose his head on a scaffold! This sentence filled the inhabitants of
Granada with indescribable horror. The man, who a few days before had
been the theme of general admiration; he, who came victorious, borne on
the wings of fortune to the highest pinnacle of honor, was now, by the
same capricious turn of fate, shorn of all his dignity and splendor,
and condemned to the horrors of an ignominious death. He, who had so
long awakened the jealousy of the great, was now th