This conviction was terrible enough, but had he known that, as it entered his mind, the body of his friend the priest was travelling on its last journey within four feet of his eyes, Leonard might have been even more prostrated than he was.
For an hour or more the shouting continued, then followed a silence broken only by the everlasting murmur of the waters without.
When Soa departed she had left a fragment of dip made of goat–fat burning upon the floor, but very soon this expired, leaving them in darkness. Now, however, light began to flow into the dungeon through the slit in the rock, and it seemed to Leonard that the character of this light was clearer than that to which they had been accustomed in this gloomy land.
After a while Leonard sat down upon a stool, which he placed close to Juanna's bed, just where the beam of light pierced the shadows, and groaned aloud in the bitterness of his heart. It was over; the pure–hearted martyr, Francisco, was dead, and with him Otter, his faithful friend and servant. Except Soa, who had become an active enemy, at least so far as he was concerned, of all who travelled to this hellish country Juanna and he alone were left alive, and sooner or later fate must overtake them also. The greatest and last failure of his life was about to be consummated, and he would go down into a nameless grave, there to be lost, having for many years suffered and toiled to no purpose, pursuing a chimera.
Juanna still slept heavily under the influence of the drug, and he was glad of it, for when she woke it must be to a worse misery than any that had gone before. Partly for something to do, and partly because the cravings of nature made themselves felt even through his sorrows, Leonard turned to the table and ate and drank of the viands there, though not without fear that they might be doctored. As the food took effect upon him some share of hope and courage entered into his heart, for it is a true saying that a full stomach makes a brave man. After all they two still breathed and were unharmed in body, nor was it absolutely certain that they would be called upon to give up the ghost at present. This was much.
Moreover, he had lived long enough to win the love of the fearless and beautiful girl who slept beside him, and though perhaps under such circumstances love, however true and passionate, ceases to occupy a commanding place in a man's heart, even then he felt that this was more, and that happier days might dawn when it would be, if not everything, at least most of all.
As he thought thus, he saw colour creep into Juanna's pale face; then she sighed, opened her eyes, and sat up.
"Where am I?" she said, glancing round wildly. "This is not the bed on which I lay down. Oh!" she started, "is it over?"
"Hush, dear, hush! I am with you," said Leonard, taking her hand.
"So I see. But where are the others, and what is this dreadful place? Are we buried alive, Leonard? It looks like a tomb."
"No, we are only prisoners. Come, eat and drink something, and then I will tell you the story."
She rose to obey him, and for the first time her eyes fell upon the robe she wore.
"Why, this is Francisco's! Where is Francisco?"
"Eat and drink," he repeated.
She did his bidding mechanically, watching his face the while with wondering and frightened eyes.
"Now," she said, "tell me. I can bear this no longer. Where are Francisco and Otter?"
"Alas! Juanna, they are dead," he answered solemnly.
"Dead," she wailed, wringing her hand. "Francisco dead! Why then are we still live?"
"Have courage and listen, Juanna. After you went to sleep in the palace, Soa came to us with a plan which we accepted."
"What was the plan?" she asked hoarsely.
Twice he strove to tell her and twice he failed—the words would not come.
"Go on. Why do you torment me?"
"It was this, Juanna: that Francisco should be dressed in the robe of Aca, and offered up with Otter in your place, while you were hidden away."
"Has it been done?" she whispered.
"I believe so," Leonard replied, bowing his head to his breast. "We are prisoners in a secret cell beneath the feet of the statue. There has been great noise and confusion without, and now for some time silence."
Then Juanna sprang up and stood over him with flashing eyes.
"How dared you do this?" she said. "Who gave you leave to do it? I thought that you were a man, now I see that you are a coward."
"Juanna," said Leonard, "it is useless for you to talk like this. Whatever was done was done for your sake, not for that of anybody else."
"Oh, yes, you say so, but I believe that you made a plot with Soa to murder Francisco in order that you might save your own life. I have done with you. I will never speak to you again."
"You can please yourself about that," answered Leonard, who by now was thoroughly enraged, "but I am going to speak to you. Look here, you have said words to me for which, were you a man, I would do my best to be avenged upon you. But as you are a woman I can only answer them, and then wash my hands of you. As you must know, or will know when you come to your right mind, I would gladly have taken Francisco's place. But it was impossible, for had I attempted to dress myself up in the robe of Aca, I should instantly have been discovered, and you would have paid the price of my folly. We all knew this, and after we had consulted, things were arranged as I have told you. I only consented to your being brought here on the condition that I was allowed to accompany you for your protection. Now I wish that I had left it alone and gone with Francisco, then perhaps I should have found peace instead of bitter words and reproaches. However, do not be afraid, for I think it probable that I shall soon follow him. I know that you were very fond of this man—this hero—and also, either by accident or design, that you had succeeded in making him a great deal too fond of you for his peace of mind; therefore I make excuses for your conduct, which, with all such deductions, still remains perfectly intolerable."
He paused and looked at her as she sat on the edge of the couch, biting her lip and glancing towards him now and again with a curious expression on her beautiful face, in which grief, pride, and anger all had their share. Yet at that moment Juanna was thinking not of Francisco and his sacrifice, but of the man before her whom she had never loved so well as now, when he spoke to her thus bitterly, paying her back in her own coin.
"I cannot pretend to match you in scolding and violence," she said, "therefore I will give up argument. Perhaps, however, when you come to your right mind, you will remember that my life is my own, and that I gave nobody permission to save it at the cost of another person's."
"What is done, is done," answered Leonard moodily, for his anger had burnt out. "Another time I will not interfere without your express wish. By the way, my poor friend asked me to give you these," and he handed her the rosary and the notebook; "he has written something for you to read on the last sheet of the journal, and he bade me say that, should you live to escape, he hoped that you will wear these in memory of him," and he touched the beads, "and also that you would not forget him in your prayers."