d the chief.

The priest then shook hands with his entertainer and turned away.
Leaving the castle, he walked down the slope for some distance, until
at length he reached the skirts of the forest. Turning round here, he
stood looking back cautiously, till he felt convinced that he had not
been followed, and was not observed. He now plunged into the forest,
and worked his way along until he came to the chasm and found the
path before mentioned. Down this he went on his way back to the
tower.

CHAPTER XI.

HOW THE FIRST PRIEST VANISHES, AND ANOTHER PRIEST APPEARS UPON THE
SCENE.

As the priest emerged from the brushwood at the top of the path, he
suddenly found himself face to face with the lady. She had come
through the opening, and was standing outside waiting there,
breathless, her hands clasped, and her eyes set in a fixed and eager
gaze of vigilant outlook and of terrified apprehension. As she
recognized the priest, her whole expression changed; her face
flushed, her eyes grew moist with tears of joy, her lips quivered.

"Oh, thank God! thank God!" she cried. "Oh, how glad I am!"

The priest stood and looked at her in silence, although there was
certainly every occasion for saying something. Finally he held out
his hand, and she took it in hers, which were cold as ice, and
tremulous.

[Illustration: "I'm The Cure Of Santa Cruz."]

"Poor child!" said the priest, "you have been too excited. But were
you not afraid that it might be some one else?"

"Yes," said she; "so afraid that I lost all strength and could not
get back. I thought I heard something like that little short laugh of
yours that you give, but then it seemed imagination. So I waited, and
if it had been an enemy he would have caught me. But I was right,
after all," she ended, joyously. "It was your laugh--and you."

Again the priest stood in silence looking at her.

"It's worth going over there," said he at last, "to make a
fellow-creature happy by coming back."

"Oh no," she said, "not for that. Nothing can compensate for the
frightful, the terrible anxiety--nothing. But I will say no more. I
am ready now for any fatigue or peril. My worst fear is over."

"Oh, it's all very well to be glad to see me," said the priest, with
that short laugh to which the lady had referred, "but that's nothing
to the gladness you'll feel when you see what I've brought back with
me. You just wait and see--that's all!"

With these words he ascen