lt
it to be a fact that Katie had been happy before he came, and that she
was now miserable. Whatever the cause was, there was the unanswerable
fact.

He now adopted a severe tone.

"You are aware, senora," said he, "that when I captured this castle there
were several prisoners."

Katie nodded.

"I suppose so," said she. "I don't know."

"Very well. Among them was your dear friend--"

"My dear friend? Who? Not 'His Majesty?'"

Lopez laughed bitterly. "How transparent that little trick is," he said
to himself.

"By 'your dear friend,'" said he, "I mean, of course, Mr. Ashby."

"Mr. Ashby! Oh!" said Katie.

To tell the truth, by this time Katie had almost forgotten his existence.
She seemed to herself to have lived years since last she spoke to Mr.
Ashby. So she said, in an indifferent tone,

"Mr. Ashby? Oh!"

Lopez, of course, thought this a part of her assumed indifference, and
smiled at his own penetration. He could see through her little arts; and
he knew something which would soon force her to tear away her mask.

"He is arrested as a spy," said Lopez, abruptly.

"A spy!" said Katie; "Mr. Ashby a spy! Why, he hasn't been a spy. I don't
understand."

"Whether he is one or not," said Lopez, harshly, "will soon appear, as he
will be tried by court-martial to-day. In times like these no mercy is
shown to spies. The country is swarming with them. They have a short
trial, a quick sentence, and a summary execution."

"Still," said Katie, "I don't see how you can make out that Mr. Ashby is
a spy."

Katie showed no horror at all, no excitement whatever, and Lopez was
proportionally amazed. He had not expected this.

"I can't tell," said he; "the court-martial will deal with him. I dare
say he is a spy, and I fully expect that he will be shot."

"Well," said Katie, "I dare say he must be. You seem to hate him so, and
you say he has insulted you, so you will take this way of being revenged.
All the same, I shouldn't like to deal that way with my enemy. Poor Mr.
Ashby! It's very, very sad! Oh, what would "His Majesty" think if he were
to hear this!"

Once more Lopez was struck dumb. He had counted with certainty upon
producing a strong effect on Katie. By holding Ashby's doom over her
head, he hoped to influence her. But this tremendous blow had fallen, and
had evidently not been felt. For Ashby and for his fate Katie had nothing
but the most commonplace expressions of pity--no horror, no grief, no
de