were asleep;
but a ray of light escaping through the silken curtains of a glass door,
and falling dimly upon the pavement of the patio, showed that one at
least still kept vigil. That light proceeded from the chamber of
Catalina.

All at once the stillness of the night was broken by the loud tolling of
a bell. It was the clock of the parroquia announcing the hour of
midnight.

The last stroke had not ceased to reverberate when the light in the
chamber appeared to be suddenly extinguished--for it no longer glowed
through the curtain.

Shortly after, the glass door was silently opened from the inside; and a
female form closely muffled came forth, and glided with stealthy and
sinuous step around the shadowy side of the patio. The tall elegant
figure could not be hidden by the disguise of the ample cloak in which
it was muffled, and the graceful gait appeared even when constrained and
stealthy. It was the Senorita herself.

Having passed round the patio, she entered the avenue that led to the
garden. Here a heavy door barred the egress from the house, and before
this she stopped. Only a moment. A key appeared from under her cloak,
and the large bolt with some difficulty yielded to her woman's strength.
It did not yield silently. The rusty iron sounded as it sprang back
into the lock, causing her to start and tremble. She even returned back
through the avenue, to make sure whether any one had heard it; and,
standing in the dark entrance, glanced round the patio. Had she not
heard a door closing as she came back? She fancied so; and alarmed by
it, she stood for some time gazing upon the different doors that opened
upon the court. They were all close shut, her own not excepted, for she
had closed it on coming out. Still her fancy troubled her, and, but
half satisfied, she returned to the gate.

This she opened with caution, and, passing through, traversed the rest
of the avenue, and came out in the open ground. Keeping under the
shadow of the trees and shrubbery, she soon reached the grove at the
bottom of the garden. Here she paused for a moment, and, looking
through the stems of the trees, scanned the open surface in the
direction of the copse where Carlos had halted.

No object was visible but the outlines of the timber island itself,
under whose shadow a human form in dark clothing could not have been
recognised at such a distance.

After pausing a moment she glided among the trees of the grove, an