Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-08-10

touch of that hard hand SO affected
Friar Lorenzo that ne reeled and would
have fallen had not the man released
him.
'What-what would your worship
have of me?' he stammered family.
''You go TO shrive q sinner" and with
that answer his guide haIred peTorc IL
lofty mansion whose Overhanging bal
comics shadowed the street. The somber
cavalier pushed open the great zaguan,
or entrance door, without knocking, al
though, rs Friar Lorenzo marked, there
was a knockcr Of peculiar design, quite
distinct froGl the conventional clenched
hand or lions head-for this was bat
tie ak, falling upon a buckler, and the
two glimmcred quite strangely clear i'll
the gloom. The tunnel-likc arch of the
zaguan WIS all in densest darkness,
savo where IL dim ray of light filtered
out from the crack of door ON the left
hand. whittier the way was led by the
man who had captured the friar.
This was the apartment usually as
signed as door porters lodge in great
houses, but here it seemed of dimensions
more spacious than was common. The
dark walls seemed to absorb rather than
reflect the pale rays of the candle, yet
enough of brilliance fell to flash CLEANS
of keen color from the jewels of one who
lay on q rough cot in corner, draped
over with a coverlet of rich brocade,
glinting back the candle light from the
golden threads of its embroideries.
The stern man pointed to the out
stretched figure: 'sDo thou confess her
quickly"
The friar drcw back with start and
woman, for she was fast bound to the
rude bed, made moveless by harsh cords
that held her beautiful naked arms out
stretched by her sides and lashed her
feet, too, closely. An observer Of more
worldly knowledge than Friar Lorenzo
would have guessed that she had been
borne hither from some scene of gala
and rejoicing, for ON her delicate wrists,
and on her exquisite neck, and in the
soft masses of her dark hair blazed
splendid jewels; and the zone of her
corsage, showing above the coverlet,
roughly wrapped around her, showed
that the stuff of her garb was of exceed
ing richness.
'Wouldst thou confess, my daugh-
ter?' stammered Friar Lorenzo, drawn
back to her despite his fear, less by his
sense of duty than by the appeal in her
eyes, full of great despair and mighty
terror. He turned, when she made
sign of assent, toward his captor, in
intination of the privacy due to a con-
fession, but that somber figure only
laughed, albeit most harshly, and drew
somewhat aside, toward the doorway.
Then Friar Lorenzo, bending low above
tho wolnan. shaken between his fears
and his pity, listened to her confession.
But she had not yet finished when the
grim watcher strobe forward, caught
the friar by his lean, trembling arms
and cried: Have done! thou art MAX
ing pretexts! Too long this wretched
woman has lived already" and so,
against her wild entreatics and the
friar's protests, he dragged tho minister
away and thrust him forth into the
street
The friar, half stunned yet half des-
perate with the thoughts awakened by
his forebodings and the tale heard from
the woman, called, prayed and knocked,
beating his frail hands on the heavy
bronze bossed portal in very frenzy.
But the massive wood gave back only
the soand of his blows, and that but
duly. At last, despairing, he fastened
from the spot with so hurried and un-
certain a step that the few wayfarers
who now began to appear i'll the street
shrunk aside from him with more of
awe than reverence, and murmured,
"Oh, the poor padre! his many penances
have made him mad"
Friar Lorenzo was half distracted,
most of al with doubts as to his divided
duty. Did his priestly VOWS as to the
inviolability of confession exact silence
as to what had happened? Did the du-
ties of humanity and justice demand
that he give up to investigation and
punishment the doer or would be doer
of what he was convinced was foul
crime? And SO, seeking to temporize
for guidance. he would fain tell his
beads to temporize and calm his giddied
senses. But his rosary swung not at his
side, and a flash of thought reminded
him that he had laid it upon the couch
beside the doomed woman. That de-
tiied him. No fragment of the divine,
thrice sanctified true cross must not be
left to the unhallowed hands of that
grisiy. scoifing monster.
Thus Friar Lorenzo set off with eager
though trembling speed for the Palace
of Justice that stood then, as it stands
now. fronting ON the great square 70
Gallo. or main plaza, and at right angles
to thc cathedral and sagrario. On the
bridge spanning the canal before the
palacio he met Il patrol just setting out
OH the last round before sunrise. The
friar halted before them, and with
knotted tongue and parched, stammer-
ill.,, lips gasped forth his story. Tho
, tiicer of tho patrol sped back to the
glardroom TO summon the alcalde, and
L moment later the squad was rattling
along 1T Il swinging pace, the friar,
whose exhaustion was evident, borne on
the clasped hands of two stout soldiers.
Following his directions, they paused at
last before the wide zaguan of house
in the Gale de Olmedo. ''It was here"
the priest said, sllivering.
The officer raised the brazen battle
ax of tho knocker and clashed it against
its buckler, but no challenging voice
nor sound Of shuffiing, sandaled tread
came back in answer. Again he knocked,
more loudly, and no sound arose within
but hollow echoes. Then the alcalde
raped with his sword and summoned,
"Open In the name of the king, his JUS
tice!" and still no key ratified in the
lock, no clink Of bar OF chain gave
promise Of ingress.
By this time crowd had gathered
about the place, for the most part Indian
hucksters, driving their heavy laden
donkeys into the city to market, or
household servants, thus early out of
doors for the daily sweeping of the
streets. One Of these drew near from a
house across the way, woman of more
than middle age, bearing the bundle of
long, jointless straws tied up with a
string that make the short, hand1eless