f Southern Europe, where the architecture was
hispano-moresque. By the silver rays of the moon he was able to make
out the beautiful design damascened upon the blade of the sword which
he held now in his hand ready drawn for self-defence.

Then he heard hurried footfalls down the empty street, and a man rushed
around the corner pursued by two others, who had also weapons in their
hands. For a moment Cosmo Waynflete was a Spaniard, and to him it was a
point of honor to aid the weaker party. He cried to the fugitive to
pluck up heart and to withstand the enemy stoutly. But the hunted man
fled on, and after him went one of the pursuers, a tall, thin fellow,
with a long black cloak streaming behind him as he ran.

The other of the two, a handsome lad with fair hair, came to a halt and
crossed swords with Cosmo, and soon showed himself to be skilled in the
art of fence. So violent was the young fellow's attack that in the
ardor of self-defence Cosmo ran the boy through the body before he had
time to hold his hand or even to reflect.

The lad toppled over sideways. "Oh, my mother!" he cried, and in a
second he was dead. While Cosmo bent over the body, hasty footsteps
again echoed along the silent thoroughfare. Cosmo peered around the
corner, and by the struggling moonbeams he could see that it was the
tall, thin fellow in the black cloak, who was returning with half a
score of retainers, all armed, and some of them bearing torches.

Cosmo turned and fled swiftly, but being a stranger in the city he soon
lost himself in its tortuous streets. Seeing a light in a window and
observing a vine that trailed from the balcony before it, he climbed up
boldly, and found himself face to face with a gray-haired lady, whose
visage was beautiful and kindly and noble. In a few words he told her
his plight and besought sanctuary. She listened to him in silence, with
exceeding courtesy of manner, as though she were weighing his words
before making up her mind. She raised the lamp on her table and let its
beams fall on his lineaments. And still she made no answer to his
appeal.

Then came a glare of torches in the street below and a knocking at the
door. Then at last the old lady came to a resolution; she lifted the
tapestry at the head of her bed and told him to bestow himself there.
No sooner was he hidden than the tall, thin man in the long black cloak
entered hastily. He greeted the elderly lady as his aunt, and he told
her that her so